Fake
by SweetDeamon
Summary: Teddy reacts badly to the prospect of gaining a step-father and is determined to seek his real father out, with disasterous results for his mother's new found happiness..... RLNT. AU.
1. Intruder

_Note: Hi everybody, this fic is AU in that Remus and Tonks survived the battle. Unlike in my other RLNT fics, however, Remus did not go back to Tonks and Teddy and so Tonks has raised Teddy alone. Different from my usual, I know, but I thought I'd try something different! Hope somebody out there enjoys it, feel free to leave a review because, as this is so different from my usual fics, I would be interested to hear what you think!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling owns it all. _

**1: Intruder**

The boy sat upon the stairs staring miserably down into the hallway as the blonde haired man struggled through the front door, carrying a cardboard box that was piled high with junk of some kind, much like the other identical boxes that were already stacked against one wall.

"Give us a hand, won't you Ted?" the man called up the stairs, but the boy made no move to help. Instead he folded his arms sulkily over his chest and his head came to rest against the bannister.

His name was not Ted. His parents had named him Theodore and shortened it to Teddy. Ted had been his grandfather's name, it belonged to him and the boy had no desire to steal it. He had told the blonde intruder this on several occasions since their first meeting some months previously, but his corrections were always ignored. He had expected his mother to back him up, but she had always told him not to be silly, or not to be rude. She always thought he was being rude, Teddy recalled as said mother dashed into the hallway from the kitchen just in time for the box to topple from the man's arms with an almighty crash. But Teddy didn't think he was rude at all, he was merely honest, and wasn't that what she should want? Mothers don't like to be lied to, after all. These days, Teddy mused as both adults made exclamations of annoyance at the smashed china and crumpled books that now adorned the floor, his mother didn't seem to like much of what he did...

"For Merlin's sake Teddy don't just sit there! I told you to help Tom with his stuff, look at this mess!"

...in fact he couldn't even sit still without being complained at.

Wordlessly Teddy got to his feet and stomped his way down the stairs, across the hallway and out of the front door, ignoring his mother's protests as he went.

"Don't worry about him, Dora," the boy heard Tom tell her. "He's bound to feel a bit strange, but he'll come round, just give him some time."

As he cut across the lawn towards the gate that lead to the pathway along the side of the house Teddy dared a glance back at the doorway. At the sight of the two adults embracing he turned sharply away, pulling the gate open and hurrying along the path into the back garden. He headed straight for the small playhouse in one corner of the garden, pushing aside overgrown bushes to reach the door that was scratched, the blue paint chipped and peeling. Teddy pushed it open and the hinges creaked in protest. The whole structure was in a poor state, there was no doubt about it, but there was no chance that Teddy would ask Tom to smarten it up, it was none of his business, it had nothing to do with him. Teddy's godfather Harry had built it for him many years ago when he was small, much smaller than he was now at twelve years of age. So much smaller, in fact, that Teddy had to stoop to get through the door and crouch down upon the creaky plank floor so that he did not hit his head upon the ceiling. He pushed the door shut behind him and sat for a moment enjoying the peace and quiet. The air was close and the playhouse smelt of damp, dirt and leaves. It was pretty much empty, save for an old toy broomstick his mother had bought his for his seventh birthday lying abandoned in one corner, and a painted wooden box his grandmother had once given him with a bright green dragon painting upon the lid, _Teddy_ printed in neat lettering above it's head. Teddy reached for the box and opened it up, staring down at the assortment of objects inside. They were his most prized possessions that he had collected over the years, though if he were honest _stolen_ might be a better word than collected. He didn't feel guilty for taking them, however, for mostly people didn't want these things, they were hidden away where nobody could see them so that they could all forget, and Teddy would stumble across them and slip them into his pocket knowing that they would not be missed.

The first thing the child drew out of the box was a photograph that he had found in a chest of drawers in the spare room of Harry's house. Two wizards smiled up at him, one positively grinning. The grinning wizard had jet black dishevelled hair, pale skin and bright, impish eyes. He had a bottle of firewhisky in one hand that he raised as if to toast the watching boy, and his other arm was slung around the other wizard's shoulders as if they were the best of friends. The other wizard had light brown hair that was tinged grey, something that did not seem to suit his relatively young face. He stood with one hand shoved into the pocket of his faded robes and though his smile was far less manic than that of his companion, there was something equally as mischievous about the way he stood twirling a wand absent-mindedly in his free hand.

This second wizard was Remus Lupin, Teddy's father, and the black haired wizard was Sirius Black, who had been Remus' best friend and Teddy's mother's cousin. Sirius had died during the war, Teddy had been told, he had been a great wizard, he had died a hero. When people told him this Teddy sometimes wished his father had followed his friend's lead and died a hero too, it would have been better that way. If Remus had died a hero everybody would talk about him all the time, like they did Sirius, and they would tell Teddy how proud he should be to have such a brave and heroic father. They would sit him down and tell him stories about when Remus had been alive and Teddy would probably know more about him than he did in reality, because in reality Remus was very much alive and consequently very much ignored. Ever since he had left Teddy's mother many years previously, some months before Teddy had been born, Remus appeared to have been erased from everybody's memory. Nobody spoke of him, for Tonks' benefit, Teddy supposed, but he always felt frustrated for he knew that many members of the Order of the Phoenix still saw Remus every now and again, and yet they never said a word about him. Despite this curiosity about his father, Teddy had never had much of a desire to meet him, he only wished to know a little more. That was until, however, he had come home from Hogwarts for the Easter holidays and his mother had introduced him to her new boyfriend. For months Teddy had attempted to accept Tom as a member of the family, an uncle, perhaps, because it was nice to see Tonks so happy, but no matter how hard he tried Teddy could not bring himself to do so. The fact of the matter was that Teddy couldn't stand Tom at all. He hated how Tom treated him as if he were a baby, how he tried so hard to get Teddy to like him, how he would talk about him to Tonks as if Teddy were not in the room and, most of all, his bright comments that he hoped that one day Teddy would think of him as a father. This final thing was by far the worst, for Teddy did not want a new father, he was perfectly happy with the one he already had, whether Remus was absent or not. It did not matter that Teddy had never even seen his father in person, nor did it matter that people were so ashamed by Remus' behaviour that they never spoke of him. The fact was that Remus was Teddy's father, he had his surname, his middle name was Remus after him, it was part of who Teddy was, part of what made him Teddy.

And Tom wanted to ruin it. He wanted to change everything, make it all strange, different, wrong.

Teddy was sure there was only one way to stop him, to remind him that he could never be Teddy's father:

Find Remus.


	2. Stew

_Note: A big thanks to my wonderful reviewers, **wandamarie**, **Sparkeee**, **Someone aka Me**, **Gelly-Bean** and **Kathy (PonyVamps)**, who have all been very enthusiastic about this fic. Thanks for your words of encouragement, I very much appreciate them. Metaphorical cookies all round! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling owns it all._

**2: Stew**

Teddy Lupin stared despairingly at the contents of the bowl that had been placed in front of him. When his mother cleared her throat expectantly he obediently mumbled:

"Thank you, Tom."

Tom sat down opposite him, an identical bowl of mush, or _stew_ as he called it, in front of him. As he reached for his spoon the blonde haired wizard was positively beaming.

"You're very welcome Ted!" he told the child brightly, before turning to Tonks to begin a conversation that Teddy did not bother to hear a word of.

Teddy picked up his spoon and poked at the mixture experimentally. It looked as though something had already partially digested it.

"What's wrong, Ted, don't you like it?" Tom asked some minutes later, and when Teddy merely stared blankly at him he gestured at the bowl with his spoon, sending droplets of the gravy-like concoction flying across the room, splattering Teddy's t-shirt. "You know it's packed with vegetables, that is. Eat it all up, won't you?"

"I don't like stew." Teddy said quietly, glancing sideways at his mother who had paused, spoon halfway to her mouth.

"Give it a go, won't you Teddy?" she said, expression pleading. "After all Tom cooked it specially..."

"You haven't even tried it," Tom interrupted, sounding irritated. "And stew's very good for you, much better than all those chips and rubbish you kids like these days."

"I don't like stew." Teddy repeated stubbornly, putting down his spoon and folding his arms across his chest. "It's all mushy..."

"Mushy?! Merlin, listen to him, Dora, I spend hours slaving over dinner for him and he won't even try it!"

"Don't take it personally, love, he's never liked stew, even when he was a baby..."

"Well he could at least try it! When I was his age my parents wouldn't let me be picky, I'd eat anything my dad put on the table..."

"You aren't my dad."

"...I didn't get to choose....what?"

A deadly silence fell over the room and Teddy swallowed hard as he watched his mother's hand came to cover her mouth in silent mortification. But nevertheless he offered Tom the worst glare he could muster as he told him:

"I said you _aren't_ my dad. Stop trying to act like I'm your son, you're not my dad, Remus is." He glanced sideways at his mother to see her reaction to this little outburst, but she appeared to be frozen, face reddening in embarrassment at her son's rudeness. Teddy's gaze shot back to Tom at the sound of the wizard giving an unimpressed snort.

"I may not be your dad, Theodore, but I'm here! Which is not something that can be said for Remus now can it? I've not known you a year and yet I would bet a thousand galleons that I know more about you than he does! He does nothing for you at all! I'm here for you and your mum and he isn't, so cut me some slack and try to have a bit of gratitude, okay?!"

Teddy stared, open mouthed at the man sat opposite him who immediately stared down at his bowl of stew, no doubt regretful that he had lost his temper.

"My dad's done lots for me!" Teddy told him, and his mother immediately reached to put a hand on his arm, shaking her head warningly but he ignored her. "He's a great wizard! And he fought in the War, he was in the Order of the Phoenix, he risked his life so that I could grow up in a better world!"

"Shhh, Teddy," Tonks instructed softly, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Tom knows what your dad did, now why don't you go in the garden for a bit? I'll make you pasta, how does that sound?"

Teddy got abruptly to his feet, chair squeaking on the wooden floor, and silently headed for the hallway.

"He's a bit sensitive about his dad." he heard Tonks tell Tom apologetically.

Teddy let the door swing shut behind him and then he headed upstairs towards the sanctuary of his bedroom.

_Your Dad is a great wizard, but not so great a man._

This was the description of Remus that Tonks had provided Teddy with some years previously when they had been for a walk in the local park and, upon seeing a number of children playing ball games with their own fathers, Teddy had asked her what his was like. Tonks had sounded mournful, disappointed, and not in the least bit angry. At first Teddy had been surprised at her reaction to conversations about his father. He had expected her to be bitter or angry, or for her to tell him nothing but negative things. But instead she would say nice things: he was clever, he was a master dueller, he was a better cook than she was. Of course there were negatives, Teddy heard about those too, but Tonks never sounded angry, only increasingly despondent. In a way Teddy found this sort of reaction far worse for it made him feel bad for asking questions and so he made a point of never asking questions at all. Since nobody else ever mentioned his father Teddy consequently heard very little about him, but he was proud of the few positive things that he did know. He didn't much blame Remus for leaving, for strangely Tonks didn't seem to much either, but he did sometimes wonder why Remus made no attempt to see him. As Teddy flopped down on his bed, burying his face in the duvet with a heavy sigh, however, he was more sure than ever that Remus could no longer be given a choice. He would see Teddy. Teddy was going to find him.

And so it was that Teddy Lupin began to search for his father.

He began in his bedroom.

In the bottom of his wardrobe he found a book which he had "borrowed" from Molly Weasley a year beforehand. It was too big to fit in his dragon box and so he had hidden it under some old toys where his mother would not spot it. He was pretty sure that Tonks did in fact own a similar book, but it had pages missing, she had torn them out because the sight of them made her sad. It was these missing pages that Teddy was interested in and as he sat cross-legged on the floor with the black leather bound book on his lap, embossed golden phoenix on the cover, he paused in his flicking of pages when he reached one such page. A large photograph filled the majority of the page and below it in neatly printed letters read:

_Caught Out, Remus and Tonks, Christmas at Headquarters._

There stood in the dingy hallway of 12 Grimmauld Place were Teddy's parents. Tonks was giggling uncontrollably, hands coming to cover her mouth as if she were rather embarrassed, whilst Remus was grinning rather sheepishly, one arm around the pink-haired witch. In front of them stood one of the Weasley twins, who was grinning at his good work, offering the watching boy an enthusiastic thumbs up. Teddy smiled at the sight of Tonks giving a shrug of defeat, and with that she turned to Remus, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. The watching twin burst out in silent laughter.

Many pages on Teddy spotted his parents in another photograph. He did not recognise their surroundings, a street of some kind from what he could see, but their expressions were far more serious. Tonks was leant against a wall, arms folded across her chest as if she were terribly bored, yet her eyes were bright and alert, she kept glancing one way and then the next, wand held firmly in one hand. Remus was stood beside her, wand in hand too, expression somewhat disproving as if he thought it the wrong time to take a photograph.

_Remus and Tonks on Night Time Guard Duty_.

No, Teddy agreed with a small smile. It had not been a time for photographs at all.

And then Teddy found the photograph that he had been searching for all along:

_Kingsley, Tonks and Hestia at Remus' Surprise Birthday Party, Bluebell Cottage, Bibury_.

As the three Order members waved cheerfully at him, Teddy reached for a scrap of parchment and a pencil, scribbling down the location before closing the book and storing it back in his wardrobe. He had never heard of Bluebell Cottage before. He had been to many of the homes of various Order members over the years: Minister Shacklebolt's enormous town house in London, the Burrow, Hestia Jones' flat, but never a Bluebell Cottage. It seemed logical to the boy therefore that Bluebell Cottage would belong to his father, it had been _his_ birthday party, after all.

There came a soft knocking at the door and Teddy was quick to push the wardrobe doors firmly closed as the door opened without invitation and his mother entered, carrying a tray complete with pasta and orange juice as promised. Teddy watched silently as she set it down upon the bedside table before coming to sit upon the floor beside him, offering him a small rather folorn smile.

"Is Tom mad with me?" Teddy asked after a sizeable pause and Tonks reached to smooth his dishevelled hair fondly.

"Nah, 'course he isn't."

"Oh. That's good." In truth Teddy couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. There was another long silence before Tonks gave a sigh.

"Teddy..." she began slowly, reaching to take hold of his hand. "You and Tom...I know it's not easy...but he's living with us now and I love him very much..."

"But he thinks he's my dad and he isn't." Teddy reminded her flatly, regretting it immediately for her gaze dropped to her lap.

"He doesn't think he's your dad, Teddy, but he is an adult and he does live with us. He's trying to look out for you."

"Yeah, as if he were my dad."

"No, as if he cared for you, which he does." she sighed again as she mumbled: "Remus doesn't look out for you in the slightest and you call him Dad. Clearly looking out for you isn't part of the job description." There was a pause as she seemingly composed herself and looked up at him, expression firm. "Listen love, we're not trying to say that you should pretend Remus isn't your dad, but the fact that it doesn't really mean anything much, does it? He's not here, he never has been, he never will be..."

"Why not? Why won't he come to see me? Does he try?"

Tonks put an arm around him as she admitted:

"I've not heard from him since you were tiny. He's never asked to see you."

"Does he not love me?"

"I'm sure if he did know you he would love you very much, he loves you in a way I'm sure, he wrote to me asking what I had named you, what you looked like..."

"But nothing since then?"

"No. Maybe Harry tells him things, I don't know."

Teddy took a moment to take this in and watched his mother's face fall as she saw tears gathering in his eyes.

"I don't think he loves me at all." he whispered with a sniff, and Tonks pulled him into a firm hug.

"There are plenty of people who love you, Teddy." she told him as his head came to rest upon her shoulder. "I love you, Gran loves you, Harry and Ginny love you, all the Weasleys love you and Merlin there's enough of them!"

"I don't care." Teddy complained, tears silently streaming down his face. "I want my dad to love me."

And Remus would love him. He had to. Teddy would make sure of it.


	3. Bluebell Cottage

_Note: Once again thanks to everybody who reviewed this fic, you're all very kind! Updates will be slower for a while as I have exams to study for. Any reviews for this chapter are very much appreciated, I'm not that sure about it..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling does._

**3: Bluebell Cottage**

The village of Bibury was, according to Teddy's copy of _An Atlas of Wizarding Britain_, some sixty miles north of his house in Surrey, it had a mixture of muggle and magical inhabitance and there was a train station two miles south at Robinswood.

Teddy lay upon his front, kicking his legs legs in the air absent-mindedly as he stared down at the little dot upon the map thoughtfully. This was difficult. He could hardly jump on a train and disappear for Merlin knew how long without his mother noticing he had gone. Unless...

"_Muuuuuuuum_?!"

"Could you yell a bit louder, love?" came the response from just outside his bedroom door. "Only I don't think deaf Mrs. Peters up the road can quite hear you."

Teddy resisted the urge to slam the atlas shut in alarm as Tonks pushed the door open and offered him a questioning look.

"Sorry, I thought you were downstairs. So, Mum, I was thinking...can I go to Dan's house?"

"Sure you can," she told him with a smile, "when you are _invited_. You can't just show up without invitation, for goodness sake."

"How come? You just show up at Harry's all the time."

"Yeah, that's different. Now come on, I need you to help Tom in the garden, we've got gnomes again." and without waiting for protests Tonks turned and made for the stairs.

At first Teddy groaned at the thought, until an idea hit him. As much as he hated Tom, the boy mused as he practically skipped down the stairs, the man's desperate attempts to make Teddy like him were about to come in handy.

He found Tom in mid-spin, gnome protesting loudly as he launched it over the back hedge.

"Bet you can't throw further than that!" The wizard challenged cheerily and for once Teddy offered him the brightest smile he could manage and declared:

"I bet I can!"

In truth Teddy found that he most certainly couldn't, but he consented to playing along for a good fifteen minutes, Tom seemed more and more enthusiastic by the minute.

"So what are you up to today then, Ted?" he asked as he watched Teddy's latest victim soar through the air with a surprisingly high pitched squeal.

"I'm going to Dan's house...or I _was_ going to Dan's house." Teddy fixed his most disappointed look onto his face as he explained: "Mum says I can't go, she doesn't have time to apparate me over there, Dan's mum will keep her talking half the day, and I can't floo because Dan says their new house isn't connected to the network yet." he gave a sigh for good measure and said: "It was his sister's birthday party, too! There was going to be fireworks!"

There was only the smallest of pauses before Tom announced:

"I'll drop you over there, if you want."

As Teddy made a show of being excited he couldn't quite believe how easy it had been.

"Really?! Wow! Tom you're the best! Wait till I tell Mum, this is gonna be _so_ cool!" and with that he bolted back into the house, leaving Tom to finish with the gnomes, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

Teddy packed a bag with a small number of things: a photograph of his father (in case he had to ask around), his wand (because illegal or not it was better to be safe than sorry), Mrs. Weasley's book (so that he could identify the cottage), a small amount of money, and a bar of chocolate (because Honeydukes was his favourite). He told his mother he was off to visit his Gran, she'd promised him some pocket money if he cleared out her garden shed, and practically danced off down the street with Tom towards the apparation point.

And so it was that Teddy Lupin found himself in Bibury village square, and he was quick to tell his mother's boyfriend that he knew the way from here, it was only up the road. He set off, offering Tom an enthusiastic wave, up a cobbled path which he had chosen at random and kept on walking until he heard the _pop!_ of disapparation signalling that he was alone. Then he walked back into the middle of the square and took a long look at his surroundings. The sleepy little village was seemingly deserted. It was made up of a cluster of cottages made of bright, cheerful yellow stone and there was a single shop on one corner of the square, the _Bibury Village Store_, and it was here that Teddy decided to begin his search. It was definitely a muggle shop, he discovered upon entry, a little bell above the door tinkling in welcome. Everything was priced in muggle money and there was an array of the sort of boring sweets that could only excite muggle children. They all tasted of normal, boring things, they didn't turn your tongue blue, nor did they cause you to levitate a few inches from the floor when you sucked them. Quite frankly Teddy couldn't see the point of them at all. He wasted no time browsing, instead he headed straight for the counter where he found an elderly muggle lady with curly grey hair and spectacles perched on her nose so small that Teddy wondered why she bothered wearing them.

"Excuse me," Teddy asked politely, and the lady looked up from the newspaper she was squinting at. "I wonder, could you tell me where I might find Bluebell Cottage?"

"Looking for Mr. Lupin, are you?" she asked, setting aside her paper and reaching for something under the counter. "Poor man, he could use a visitor just now I dare say!"

As she set an envelope down upon the counter and slid it towards him, Teddy asked:

"Why? What's poor about him?"

The lady offered him a sad little smile.

"What's poor about him, chuck? I think the better question is what _isn't_ poor about him! Still, he gets by well enough I suppose, keeps himself to himself mostly, but you couldn't meet a nicer man anywhere, I'm sure! But no, silly me, that wasn't what I meant. He's ill, you see, Mrs. Clive told me last week. I said to Miss. Roberts just yesterday there's nothing odd about that, Mr. Lupin is often ill, fragile health, you see, but Miss Roberts said it must be far worse than usual, she's called on him several times but he's far too ill to leave his bed and answer the door! Terrible, absolutely terrible! It's a good thing that Mr. Potter's been to check on him, else the poor man might just waste away!"

"Harry...I mean Mr. Potter has been to see him? When? How often does he come?" Teddy asked, thinking that it would be a major disaster if Harry were to show up and discover him on Remus' doorstep.

"I don't know, chuck, he's been and gone a couple of times recently I suppose. I see him from the window, you see, and he came in to drop off Mr. Lupin's payment for the milk yesterday, my son's the milkman round here. Speaking of which, this is Mr. Lupin's change." she pointed at the envelope. "You wouldn't drop it off at the cottage for me, would you? Since you're heading up there anyway?"

"Of course," Teddy took the envelope, feeling a number of coins, far too small to be galleons, sliding around inside of the paper. "So where do I go?"

"Straight across the square, up the lane lined with apple trees, turn left through the white gate and keep going down the path, it's right there in front of you."

"Thanks very much for your help." As Teddy retreated towards the door the old lady called after him:

"Tell him Mrs. Button hopes he is better soon!"

The pathway past the white gate appeared to be little more than a dirt track and Teddy walked slowly, his heart beginning to race. He had been so fixated on finding his father that now he had done so it was just starting to dawn on him just what he was about to do. He was going to see his father, his father who he had never met, never spoken a single word to. He had no idea what reception he would receive either. What if Remus didn't want to see him? He had made no effort so far, perhaps he didn't want to know Teddy at all. And what would Teddy _say_? What does one say to a long lost father? Where should he begin? Did he introduce himself straight away? Or was that too forward? Would Remus recognise him? Or would he have no idea who Teddy was? And if Remus was so ill was it really wise to go and see him? He might not be much up to visitors at all, let alone his son who he had never met...

And then he realised that he had come to a halt. Bluebell cottage was stood just in front of him. It was small, built of the same brick as the buildings in the village square, and close to crumbling. Nevertheless it was neat, the little garden well cared for, though Teddy couldn't help but feel that when it came to this cottage, his father was fighting a loosing battle. The boy took a hesitant step forward before pausing to flatten his hair. Today he had shunned his usual turquoise for a more conventional brown. Light brown. Like his father's, and dark eyes, like his mother's. He straightened his jumper, brushing away specks of dirt that he knew perfectly well were not there, before taking a few deep, calming breaths. Feeling none the wiser as to what he was going to do or say when or indeed _if_ Remus opened the door, he marched up to the front door and gave the knocker three sharp, definite taps before he could think better of it.

What was Tonks going to say when she found out what he had done? For surely she would find out somehow. No doubt she would be horrified, and what explanation would he give? She would only be more upset if he tried to explain...

There came the muffled sound of movement from within the cottage and Teddy gave a gasp, hands clasped together before him in apprehension. The door opened slowly, hinges creaking, and then at last Teddy's big moment came. He found himself face to face with his father.

Remus Lupin did not look much changed from the photographs Teddy had seen of him from some twelve years ago. He was less thin, as if he had been better fed, his clothes were less patched, yet still well worn, and his hair was streaked with silver. He did indeed look rather sickly, he appeared to be as white as a ghost, glass of water in one hand. As he watched Remus' eyes look him up and down searchingly, Teddy wondered if he would be recognised.

Slowly the werewolf's eyes widened in silent shock and Teddy jumped at the sound of smashing glass when the glass of water slipped from his grasp. Remus didn't appear to notice his blunder, however, for he was still staring at Teddy in shock. The lack of greeting caused Teddy's stomach to twist into knots and so he drew in a deep breath and, quite bravely he thought, said:

"Hello...I'm...I'm..." he attempted to clear his throat, something appeared to be blocking it. He watched Remus swallow hard, perhaps he was having the same problem. But then Remus' expression seemed to relax slightly, as if he were beginning to get over his shock.

"You're Theodore." Remus finished for the boy, and at his own words his shock seemed to be renewed.

"That's right." Teddy felt positively relieved that the silence had been broken. "I'm Theodore...Theodore Remus Lupin. Or..."

"Or Teddy." Remus finished again, sounding suddenly quite excited by the whole situation. "Everybody calls you Teddy. Except Victoire Weasley, she...she calls you Teddy Bear which you hate, and your mother calls you Theodore when she is angry with you...which isn't very often...you're a good boy, you get good marks at school, you're in Gryffindor House, you like to read books...and...and you're _here_...!"

Teddy positively beamed to hear this information, Remus knew about him, he thought elatedly, Remus knew about him, he knew about him and he was glad to see him, he was smiling, a grin so wide that it lit up his sickly face...

"...Oh Merlin! This isn't...this isn't supposed to happen, you're not supposed to be here..."

Teddy's face fell at these words and he positively grimaced when Remus, excitement gone as soon as it had appeared, asked him:

"Does your mother know you are here?"

"No," Teddy admitted miserably, sure now that Remus would no longer be in the least bit pleased to see him. "But I just had to come and see you, I've spent ages finding you, I found a photo of this cottage, I looked the village up in my atlas! Are...are you going to send me home?"

Remus was frowning deeply, still staring at the boy before him and Teddy's stomach twisted more than ever. At last Remus revealed something that he did not know about his son:

"Do you drink tea?"

The living room of Bluebell Cottage was very small with a single squashy sofa that Teddy sat down upon as he gazed around the room. He could see Remus through the kitchen's open door. The wizard kept pausing in his task to glance into the living room at the boy, as if he could not quite believe he was there. Every few minutes he would start coughing, quietly at first, hand clamped to his mouth, but soon enough it would become far worse, a deep barking cough that made him gasp for breath and double over, hands gripping the counter top for support. Teddy wondered what was wrong with him.

The boy glanced at the small table beside him and eyed the objects sat upon it with interest. There stood a pair of framed photographs, the first of four teenage boys dressed in their school robes, one of whom looked remarkably like Harry, the second one which he had seen before. There sat his six year old self, bouncing up and down on his chair in excitement, a large birthday cake complete with lit candles before him. Teddy grinned at the sight of it. He had always thought that his father knew nothing about him, that he pretended Teddy didn't exist, but it appeared that he had been completely wrong. Remus appeared to try to memorize as much about his son as he could, and he certainly did seem to care a great deal, why else would he keep a photograph like that? In fact glancing around the room Teddy counted at least three other photographs of himself, as well as another photograph he had seen in Mrs. Weasley's book: his parents on their wedding day, it had pride of place above the fireplace. It was like a family home, as if Remus had never left them at all. Teddy suddenly felt more relaxed, he felt at home.

At the sound of more violent coughing from the kitchen, Teddy got to his feet and came to stand in the doorway, lips pursed together in concern. As the coughing subsided he asked:

"Are you sick, Dad?" He immediately regretted asking for Remus stared at him, eyes wide again. "Sorry," the boy mumbled. "None of my business..."

"No, it's not that," Remus explained, turning to pick up the two steaming mugs of tea. "I just...well nobody's ever called me Dad before."

"Oh," Teddy accepted a mug with a smile and headed back towards his seat. "Well I call you Dad all the time, like yesterday when I told Tom he's not my dad, you are..." he trailed off, suddenly nervous as he asked: "D'you...know about Tom?"

Remus smiled somewhat mechanically, silently confirming that yes, he knew about Tom.

"I had a bout of the flu," he said, choosing to answer the original question instead. "Nothing to worry about, even if Harry did seem to think I ought go to Mungo's...I suppose he was worried, what with the full moon last week..." he trailed off into silence with a heavy sigh. At mention of his lycanthropy, his face fell once again and Teddy was sure he was again considering whether or not Teddy ought be there. Apparently he had come to some sort of decision for he reached into his pocket and drew out his wand. "Merlin, it's been some time since I did this!" he mumbled to himself, and Teddy asked:

"Since you did what?"

"Contacted your mother." Remus raised his wand.

"No!" Teddy cried, jumping to his feet, narrowly avoiding slopping tea down his front. "You can't tell her I'm here! She'll kill me!"

"I'll have to tell her, Teddy," Remus told him, though he sounded reluctant. "She'll need to come and collect you, I can't very well apparate you home myself, I've been bedridden for the past week, I'd probably splinch the pair of us..."

"You can't! She'll be furious! She'll be so upset! And she'll come straight away, we won't have time to talk!"

There was a long pause as Teddy fixed his father with his most pleading look. Remus lowered his wand.

"Alright then," he agreed. "Half an hour. But then I shall have to send for her, she's bound to wonder where you've gone, she'll be worried sick."

Teddy sat down again, and Remus sat down next to him. They paused, staring at one another yet again, both smiling vaguely. Quite slowly Teddy's eyes shifted from black to light brown.

"You must have far too many questions for me to answer in half an hour." Remus said at last, staring at the boy whose eyes now matched his own.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well go ahead and ask anything you like."

"Anything at all?"

"Absolutely anything, I owe you that much."

Remus waited for the barrage of painful, intense questions to come: why did you leave us? Didn't you love my mum? Didn't you love _me_?

"So...what's your favourite colour?"


	4. Severed Connection

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling does._

**4: Severed Connection**

It was a day that Nymphadora Lupin would remember for the rest of her life. It was a day that was set to change everything.

The first thing that it changed was the colour of her son's eyes. When the door to her estranged husband's cottage opened she found them staring up at her, carbon copies of those she had lost herself in so many years previously. The sight made the breath catch in her throat, heart hammering in her chest.

Mother and son stared at one another silently, tense expressions on both faces.

"Are you mad with me?" Teddy asked at last, teeth gritted in anticipation of her fury. But to his surprise she silently shook her head before stepping forward to envelope him in a firm hug.

"Merlin, Teddy," she breathed, eyes closed as she let out a sigh of relief. "Don't you ever pull a stunt like this again, you hear? When I flooed your Gran and you weren't there...!"

As slow footsteps sounded behind him, Teddy felt her suddenly go rigid, her grip on him tightening. After a moment she straightened up and Teddy turned to find his father stood, hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets as he laid eyes upon Tonks for the first time in twelve years.

"Dora." Remus acknowledged, voice not much more than a mumble.

"Remus." Tonks' voice was not much clearer. They stared at one another, as if they had both been petrified.

"I was only alone for about ten minutes, Tom dropped me in the square and I came straight here, didn't I, Dad?" Teddy explained cheerfully, attempting to dispel the tense atmosphere that had descended over the room. "We've had a lovely time, we had tea and chocolate and Dad's been telling me all sorts of stories..."

"Really, Nymphadora," Remus interrupted swiftly, eyes upon the floor. "I had absolutely no idea he was coming, he just appeared on the doorstep. I didn't know he knew I was in the country, let alone where I lived."

Tonks nodded in mute understanding, before her hand came to rest upon Teddy's shoulder and she gave him a light push towards the door.

"Outside," she instructed, only for Teddy to take a step towards his father.

"But Mum..."

"I said wait outside, Teddy. Your Dad and I need to talk."

Teddy glanced from Remus to Tonks and back to Remus again. He was not sure that he liked the idea of leaving them alone to talk. They were awkward enough as it was without being alone, and there was something fragile about his mother's expression, what if she were to start crying? And then he still had some questions that he needed to ask, the most important one being:

"Can I come and see you again soon?" he asked Remus, who seemed vaguely alarmed by the suggestion.

"Well..." the werewolf mumbled, shifting his feet uncertainly. "That's really up to your mother..."

Teddy swivelled on the spot, expectant gaze now upon Tonks who let out a small, despairing sigh.

"Can I, Mum? _Please_ can I?"

"I'm not sure I can say no," Tonks admitted, lips pursed together against whatever torrent of emotions were threatening to surface. "You've inherited your father's ability to give me the slip, _he_ told me he was going to Molly's house..."

Remus appeared to be going scarlet.

"...You'll no doubt find your way here somehow, no matter what I say."

"I could move." Remus suggested, only for Teddy to turn his gaze back on him in horror.

"You can't move!" the boy cried. "I only just found you! Why shouldn't I see you, anyway? I don't see why I shouldn't, you're my dad! You said just now that you no longer thought things were so bad, not these days when you have a job and the laws restricting werewolves have been relaxed!"

Remus' brow creased as he struggled to come up with a satisfactory answer.

"I...I really don't think..."

"Don't you want to see me?"

"Of course I'd like to see you, Teddy, but I really don't think it wise at the moment." Remus struggled to look his son in the face as tears threatened to spill down Teddy's cheeks.

"Why not?" The boy choked, as his mother put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Remus was silent, considering an explanation, but it appeared that he was unable to explain what he was thinking, what he was feeling. After all, how could Teddy possibly understand the pain it caused him to see Tonks stood there just inside the doorway? To see her stood there with one arm around their son, as beautiful as ever he had seen her, but only his according to a worthless piece of paper? She was not his at all, indeed she loved somebody else now, she lived with somebody else and yet here she stood, if he stepped forward a few steps he could reach out and touch her...

"We'll talk about it." Tonks decided, much to the werewolf's relief. "Now go on, outside!"

Before she could give him a nudge in the right direction Teddy hurried over to his father and, ignoring the startled expression upon the wizard's face, threw his arms around him. There was a brief, awkward pause before Remus consented to hugging him back, albeit gingerly.

"You gotta let me come and see you again," Teddy murmured, too quiet for his mother to hear. "Tom's trying to take your place, I don't want him as a dad, he's a fake."

Remus' grip upon him tightened comfortingly and he let out a small sigh.

"He's far less fake than me, that's for sure. There is more to being a real father than blood, you know Teddy. Now go on, wait outside for your mother, she won't be a moment."

As soon as the door had swung shut behind him Teddy pressed his ear against the wood, hoping that he would be able to hear what was said. For a long few minutes he could hear nothing but muffled talk, the words incoherent. But then the voices grew louder as Tonks approached the door, ready to leave.

"By the way...you did receive my letter last week, didn't you?" Teddy heard her ask, voice cautious.

"You wrote to me?" Remus sounded surprised.

"Yeah...you didn't get it?"

"I might have...I haven't really looked at the post."

"Oh."

"Was it important?" Of course it had been important, Teddy thought. There was no chance that Tonks would write to Remus unless it was strictly necessary and therefore important. In fact Teddy was just as surprised as his father was that Tonks had written at all. The boy could not think of any reason why she would need to contact him.

"Kinda..." Tonks said slowly, sounding reluctant. There was a long pause and Teddy found himself holding his breath in anticipation of what was coming next. "I was wondering...if you could...write to the Ministry..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...I...well I...I asked Tom to move in, dunno if Teddy told you..."

"Harry did."

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose he would do...so yeah, Tom's living with us now and...and well...I..." Tonks trailed off into silence, there was yet another suspenseful pause and then she said something that knocked the elation Teddy had felt that day right out of him.

"I want a divorce, Remus." she said, and Teddy clamped a hand over his mouth in order to trap the horrified exclamations from within.

His parents had never gotten divorced after his father had left. This was a fact that had never meant much to Teddy before, either they were together or not together, whether or not they were married hadn't make much difference. But since Tom's inclusion in the family, Teddy had taken refuge of sorts in the fact that his mother and father were still married. They were still connected, their bond had never been completely severed, Remus was part of his family and Tom was not. But it looked as though this was all about to change. The boy had a sudden mad desire to shout through the door at them, beg them not to do it, beg Remus to refuse. He couldn't allow Tonks to divorce him, it would all be final, Tom would be free to ruin everything...

"Oh..." Remus' voice caused Teddy to hold his breath once again. _Tell her no_, the child silently pleaded. _Tell her you won't divorce her, refuse to even consider it_...

"Of course...if...if that's what you want, I'll owl the Ministry first thing tomorrow."

"Thanks," Tonks sounded relieved at such a straightforward, yielding reply, but Teddy slumped against the wall, distraught. A moment later the door opened and Tonks stepped outside to join him and he numbly followed her down the path back towards the white gate. They walked silently, son trailing behind mother before Teddy halted abruptly, pulling a crumpled envelope from his pocket.

"I gotta go back," he announced, holding the envelope up for Tonks to see as she turned to see why he had stopped walking. "I forgot, the lady in the shop asked me to give this to Dad."

"I'll wait here." Tonks told him, she looked pale, Teddy noted, one visit to Bluebell Cottage appeared to have been ordeal enough for her.

Remus was slow to answer the door and when Teddy offered him the envelope his smile of thanks was little more than a twitch. He too looked pale, his expression somewhat dazed and eyes glassy as if he had suffered a great shock. Teddy wondered if he ought say something, but thought better of it as it would not do to be caught eavesdropping. It was worrying, though, the boy mused as he stared up at the werewolf who was ripping the envelope open, or at least attempting to. He seemed to manage only to crumple it further, his hands fumbling, and soon he gave up and shoved it into his pocket with mumbled thanks. Of course who would not be shocked when asked for a divorce, Teddy thought when they had bid each other goodbye again and he had set off back down the path. But his parents had been as good as divorced for years, it shouldn't make a difference to Remus, it did not make sense that he should seem so traumatized by the whole idea. Why would he seem so bothered?

_Perhaps he still loves her, _a voice inside Teddy's head suggested.

_That doesn't make sense either_, a second voice reasoned, _he left her, not the other way around_.

_But the look on his face, his fumbling, stumbling mumbles, his eyes..._

"Seemed like love to me." Teddy muttered to himself, before jogging to catch up with his mother.


	5. Spite

_Note: Hi there, sorry for the lack of updates, I've been very busy! I'm not sure if I am happy or not with this chapter, so please let me know if you like it! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling owns it all._

**5: Spite**

In the evening when Teddy was called downstairs to eat dinner, he had no idea what a huge impact his actions earlier that day were about to have on his life. Of course he'd known there would be some sort of change, how could there not be? But it was not long before he began to realise that the consequences were in fact going to be simply _devastating_.

Dinner began normally enough, the two adults talked about work and plans for the weekend, Tonks suggested the three of them should go and watch some Quidditch and Teddy felt excited at such a prospect. Though he was not the sportiest of people, the turquoise haired boy had always liked to go and watch Quidditch matches and it had been some time since his mother had taken him.

Teddy was helping himself to a second helping of mashed potato when the cheery atmosphere was shattered when Tom asked him:

"So, did you have fun at Dan's house today, Ted?"

Panicked, Teddy was just considering whether or not he was supposed to lie or not when his mother put down her fork and folded her hands purposefully in her lap.

"Actually, Tom, Teddy didn't go to Dan's house today." Tonks admitted cautiously, causing Tom to shoot her a confused look.

"He...didn't?" the blonde haired wizard asked, frowning deeply.

"No, he didn't." Tonks confirmed, sitting up straighter. "He went to see Remus."

There was a short silence as Teddy looked up and swallowed at Tom's expression. It was as though Tonks had just slapped him round the face.

"He what?!"

Teddy was compelled to bolt from the room, such was the fury that appeared upon Tom's face, but Tonks' expression was surprisingly calm.

"So we don't need to bother dropping him over at Mum's tomorrow. He might as well stay here." she continued, as if Tom had not said a word.

"But...hang on a minute! You let him go?! After what you've always said, I thought you didn't want to confuse him..."

Teddy scowled, he wasn't invisible, he thought indigently, but then again he was rather glad to be ignored.

"Teddy isn't confused, Tom, he still understands the situation perfectly well, it doesn't matter whether he sees Remus or not."

"If he sees him? What, you mean for him to see him again? Dora, really, I don't think..."

"It doesn't matter what you think, love," Tonks interrupted, somehow managing to sound both hostile and endearing at the same time. "Teddy's my son, if I reckon it's okay for him to see his dad, he can do."

Tom opened his mouth to reply, but she had gone back to her dinner. The matter appeared to be over.

"Well then, that'll be nice, won't it Ted?" Tom said, full of false cheer. "Your mum's right, you might as well stay here tomorrow when your dad comes."

"Dad's coming here?" Teddy asked, his mood suddenly lifting, only for Tom to cause it to plummet back towards his shoes.

"That's right. We've got some forms and things for him to fill out..."

"Tom," Tonks interrupted, shooting him a warning look, but Teddy didn't need an explanation. It was going to be official, he realized glumly. His parents were going to get a divorce.

The morning dawned and Teddy watched the sun rising between the gap between his curtains. He had had very little sleep, but nevertheless he got out of bed early and dressed before morphing his hair to a familiar shade of brown. He pulled on his shoes and crept out of his room, pausing to listen outside of his mother's bedroom. He could hear soft, hushed voices coming from within and concluded that he would need to be quick if he were to avoid having to spend breakfast with the intruder for Tom and Tonks were awake too. Teddy could not bear the thought of yet another miserable session around the dining room table, and so he hurried downstairs and ransacked the kitchen cupboards until he found a packet of crisps and a slightly stale cauldron cake. Then he went out into the garden to take refuge in the playhouse. There he sat, crunching on crisps and waiting for his father to arrive.

He had a long wait. It was some hour and a half later before he heard the crack of apparation, and in his haste to bolt out of the tiny playhouse he hit his head hard on the door frame, prompting him to stumble and sit back down with a groan. He screwed his eyes shut against the pain and reached to clutch his head, only to jump up again at the sound of his mother calling to him from the back door.

"Teddy?! Your dad's here!"

Teddy burst into the hallway to find Remus pulling a cloak from his shoulders whilst Tonks mumbled and asked if he would like a cup of tea. Tom was stood in the kitchen doorway, his expression terribly cheerful. Teddy shot him a brief glare, which went unnoticed, before launching himself across the room and throwing his arms tightly around his father.

"Good morning, Teddy." Remus greeted, sounding distinctly stiff as he patted the boy upon the shoulder awkwardly, but Teddy didn't seem phased.

"Dad! I'm so glad you're here, I've got so much stuff to show you!" Teddy announced, before rounding on his mother with an expectant look upon his face. "Can I show Dad my room, Mum?"

As Tom retreated into the kitchen with an audible sigh, Tonks pursed her lips together in deliberation. Slowly, a small smile spread across her face.

"Sure you can, love." she said. "I'll...I'll give you a call when I find the papers, Remus." And with that she turned to follow Tom into the kitchen. As Teddy lead the way to the stairs he caught sight of her still smiling as she reached to close the door. The smile was quick to fade, however, as Teddy heard a bemused Tom ask:

"What are you smiling for?"

"...and this is my Wasps' cloak, I wear it to their matches, and those are my old story books, I'm much too old for them now, and that's Wolfie, my favourite cuddly toy when I was little...I'm way too old for him too but I like to keep him around. And that's the box I keep my pocket money in...."

Teddy's eyes ran frantically across the room in search of any possessions he had yet to draw to his father's attention as Remus stood just inside the doorway, listening patiently. If he were honest with himself, Teddy was sure that none of his excited babbling was of any real interest to the wizard stood behind him, but the boy felt compelled to continue anyway. "That's my old broom." he informed his visitor, pointing to the sorry-looking object propped up against the side of the wardrobe. "It doesn't really fly straight like it's supposed to...but I don't want to ask for a new one."

"Why not?" Remus asked him, taking a step forward as Teddy sat down upon the edge of his bed.

"Because then Tom will want to play Quidditch with me." Teddy explained, sounding positively revolted at the very idea.

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

"Yes. It would." Teddy's reply was so frank that he was sure that Remus would attempt to reason with him, but to his relief the werewolf merely said:

"I see. What's that?" and pointed to a small, tatty looking photograph that had been abandoned upon the bedside table. Upon seeing it, Teddy grinned.

"That," he informed his father happily as he jumped to his feet to retrieve the photo, "is a photo I found at Harry's house the other weekend. I was going to give it back...."

Slowly Remus came to stand beside Teddy to look down at the photograph. Teddy glanced up to notice the deeply pained expression that flickered across his face as he looked down at the scene: Remus sat in a faded leather armchair with a mischievous looking Sirius perched precariously upon one arm, and Tonks sprawled across his lap, head resting against his shoulder and eyes closed as if asleep.

"It's a nice photo." the boy observed carefully, and Remus gave the tiniest of nods and softly murmured:

"Yes. Yes it is."

And it was at that moment, just as he heard his mother calling to Remus up the stairs, that Teddy became convinced that his suspicions had been correct.

His father still loved his mother. Teddy had no doubt.

And, he mused as he followed Remus out onto the landing and down the stairs, that meant that his big problem could be fixed. After all, Remus had been the one to leave, presumably because he had thought that he didn't love Tonks any more. That had to have been the reason, Teddy decided, because why else would he have left? Either he loved her and would stay with her no matter what happened, or he didn't love her and would leave. It had to be as simple as that, because if you love somebody nothing else matters, that's what people always said. If you love somebody you will stick with them through thick and thin.

And now Teddy knew that Remus had been wrong. He did love Tonks, Teddy was sure of it. Remus could correct his mistake, they could make things work, they could be a happy family, because Remus loved Tonks and once he realised it, and he _was_ beginning to realise it Teddy believed, they could stick together forever, just the three of them. And then Tom would be gone.

But Tom wasn't gone, and neither were the divorce papers. Teddy shuffled into the kitchen and watched the three adults take seats around the kitchen table. They began talking in hushed tones and Teddy shuffled further forward, trying to hear what they were saying.

"Why don't you go and play in your room, Ted?" Tom asked with a smile as Remus reached to dip a quill into ink. Teddy seemed not to hear Tom as he watched the quill descend upon the parchment with a terrible sense of dread. This couldn't happen. It wasn't right, it simply couldn't happen...

"No!" he found himself shouting before he could stop himself. "No Dad! Don't do it!"

As Remus paused to look up, Tom let out an irritated sigh.

"Please don't make a scene, Teddy love..." Tonks began softly, eyes silently pleading for calm, but Tom interrupted her.

"Don't be silly Theodore! We're very busy, go and wait in your room!"

"I'm not being silly!" Teddy cried, hands balling into fists and hair deepening to a furious red. "You're the silly ones! You're going to ruin everything! Don't sign anything, Dad! You're going to let Tom ruin things!"

Tom got abruptly to his feet, face furious, only for Tonks to follow suit.

"Put the kettle on, won't you love?" she told him meaningfully, before hurrying over to usher Teddy out into the hallway.

"You can't get a divorce, Mum!" Teddy told her miserably as she pulled the door firmly shut behind them. "You can't, Dad loves you, he does, I know he does..."

"Oh Teddy," his mother sighed,wincing at his words and enveloping him in a firm hug. "Please don't panic, love, I know you're upset, but everything is going to be just fine. Your dad's still your dad, whether I'm married to him or not! Besides, you didn't much care about any of this before now! It's not going to make any difference, I promise..."

"But it is!" Teddy wailed, burying his face in her jumper with a sob. "You'll get married to Tom! He'll spoil things!"

"He won't spoil things, you can still see your dad whenever you want! I promise! You could stay over at Bluebell cottage sometimes if he doesn't mind, how does that sound? Would you like that?"

"No!" Teddy cried, frustrated that she didn't seem to understand. "No Mum, you don't get it! You can't get a divorce because Dad still loves you!"

"Teddy don't say that." Tonks told him, voice suddenly stern. "It's wrong of you, I know you're upset, and I know you don't like Tom all that much but really..."

"But it's true! I know it is!"

"Teddy..."

"He does, he's still got your wedding photo!"

"Stop it Teddy!"

"And he was so shaken when you left the other day..."

"I said _stop it_!!" As her voice rose to a shout Teddy finally fell silent and drew back from her, only to see tears in her eyes. "You're not being fair on me, Teddy." she told him, reaching to wipe the tears away upon the sleeve of her jumper. "I love Tom, you know how much I love him, but you still insist on trying to drive wedges between us. First you refuse to accept him into the family, I let it go, I thought it would happen with time. Then you went and found your dad, and again I had to let it go, he's your dad, you've every right to know him. But _this_...Teddy this is a step too far! It's spiteful, Teddy! You're telling tales to hurt us! To hurt _me_!"

There was a painful silence as mother and son stared at one another. Teddy wanted to scream. She didn't believe him, she thought he was a liar, she thought he was being spiteful...

But at the complete and utter misery upon her face, Teddy knew that there was only one thing to be done.

"I'm sorry Mum." he whispered, reaching to wipe away tears of his own. "I'll...I'll not say another word. I promise." And to his relief she let out a sigh and threw her arms around him again.

"I love you, Teddy." she told him, stroking his hair as it faded to brown. "I know it's hard, but I really need you to try, for me."

"I'll try. I'll be good." Teddy told her, attempting to sound sincere, just as the door to the kitchen was pushed open a little and Teddy found that Remus looking out at them with a distinct look of relief.

"Everything okay?" he mouthed to Tonks, who gave a firm nod. The two adults stared at one another and for a lingering moment Teddy envisioned Remus stepping out into the hallway and putting his arms around the pair of them, a proper family hug, but instead he offered Tonks a fleeting smile before retreating back into the kitchen. And with that thought, Teddy's fury with Tom was renewed afresh.

Teddy watched his parents fill out the forms in silence. He stood just behind them, his anger slowly building at the sight of Tom's constant smile as he too observed the proceedings. After an hour later the forms were all complete and Remus at last rose to his feet, ready to leave.

"Well, if that's all I better be going." he said with the smallest of polite smiles. Teddy didn't know quite how he managed to be so civil.

"Oh there was one other thing," Tom told him hurriedly, and Teddy saw an odd expression appear upon his mother's face.

"I...don't remember anything else." Tonks said, getting to her feet and turning to head towards the front door, only for Tom to remind her:

"On the mantelpiece, Dora."

Teddy looked over to see what Tom meant, and when his eyes came to rest upon his mother's discarded wedding ring, then his mother's downcast eyes, before glancing back at the distinctly smug expression upon Tom's face, something inside of Teddy's head snapped. With devastating consequences.

And there it was, lying on the table in front of him beside Remus' discarded quill. The channel for his anger. The release for his rage. Without another thought Teddy reached out for it. He picked up his mother's wand and pointed it directly at the intruder's face....


	6. Oh Sweet Merlin

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling does._

**6: Oh Sweet Merlin...**

Hand steady, deep breath and...

"Stupefy!" Teddy shouted, and within a split second he heard sudden movement and a voice said:

"Protego!"

The jet of red light that had shot from the end of the wand that Teddy held in his hand seemingly bounced off the thin air just in front of Tom's shocked face, before speeding into a nearby window, shattering the glass with an almighty crash!

There was a long, stunned silence. Teddy slowly turned his head to find that Remus had drawn his wand. For a brief moment Teddy allowed himself to feel impressed by his father's seemingly lightening fast reaction. Your father is a great wizard, a voice recalled from somewhere inside his head.

And then the reality of what he had just done seemed to suddenly kick in.

"I knew it!" Tom bellowed, leaping to his feet and thrusting an accusing finger in Teddy's direction. "I knew it, Dora, I knew it! There's something wrong with him! He can't bear to do as he is told and now he's tried to attack me!"

"Oh Teddy..." Tonks whispered, seemingly deaf to Tom's wild ranting, "Oh Teddy how could you?!"

"How could he?! It's a damn good question, Dora!" Tom fumed, hands balling into fists, expression so furious that Teddy found himself shuffling closer to his father's side. "He's clearly not a normal child! I mean look at what he just did! That's not normal behavior! It's bordering on manic!"

At such an attack on her son's character, Tonks' despair seemingly evaporated on the spot.

"What are you trying to suggest, Tom?!" she shouted, rounding on the wizard with an expression that suggested she might send a hex of her own in his direction at some point in the very near future. "His parents are divorcing, give him a break for Merlin's sake! He's bound to be upset!"

"So it's okay for him to hex me, then?" Tom asked incredulously, face fast turning a livid shade of red. "It's not my bloody fault your getting a divorce, he's the one who abandoned the pair of you!" The finger turned it's attention to Remus, who was quick to turn to examine the shattered remains of the window with a mournful expression upon his face. "If the boy's head is messed up it's down to him, not me!"

"I can't believe this!" Tonks announced, hands clutching strands of her hair in agitation. "How can it have gotten like this?"

"I don't suppose werewolf blood helps much." Tom muttered darkly, causing Remus to close his eyes as if hoping to wake from some sort of nightmare and Tonks to gasp and cry:

"_What_ did you just say?!"

Tom was saved from repeating himself, for at that moment a small gray owl came souring in through the broken window, an envelope tied to it's foot. It landed neatly upon the dining table amidst the chaos and held out it's foot expectantly. With a sniff, Tonks reached to retrieve the letter and, upon tearing open the envelope and unfolding the letter, suddenly went pale.

"Oh Teddy..." she sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "How could you be so stupid?"

Finding that his mother no longer seemed to be on his side, Teddy reached forward to take the letter from her hand.

_Dear Mr. Lupin_, he read as he held the letter in one trembling hand.

_It has been brought to our attention that this morning at 11:43am both a stunning spell and the protego charm were performed in your home. The Trace which is upon underage wizards such as yourself has lead us to believe that at least one of these two spells was cast by you. As you are aware, it is illegal for an underage wizard to use magic outside of school and any breaking of this law may result in your expulsion from Hogwarts School. A member of the Magical Law Enforcement department will arrive shortly to investigate this incident, in preparation for your disciplinary hearing, the details of which will be sent to you shortly. _

_Hoping you are well, _

_Fiona Kerby_

_Magical Law Enforcement Department_

"They're going to expel me?!" Teddy cried, allowing Remus to pluck the letter from his now limp hand so that he could read it for himself. "But...but it was just one hex!"

"Just one hex?! Tom roared, as Tonks seemingly dissolved into tears. "He doesn't even think he's done anything wrong! See, mental..."

"What are we going to do?" Tonks asked woefully, stepping to throw her arms around her son in despair. "We have to think of something!"

Teddy was vaguely aware of movement beside him, but he barely noticed for he was too busy burying his face in his mother's jumper.

"I don't....don't want to be expelled...." he whimpered, only to jump slightly at the sound of a quiet voice muttering:

"Stupefy."

As another beam of red light streaked out of the smashed window, Teddy turned to look at his father with a questioning look.

"Don't panic, Teddy." the werewolf said calmly. "We're going to help you, you're not going to be expelled."

"You have a plan?" Tonks asked, sounding positively relieved at the very idea.

"I do." Remus confirmed, and for a moment the two adults stared at each other, as if lost to the world. "This letter suggests that the Ministry aren't sure who cast which spell." Remus continued at last, blinking hard and turning his gaze upon Teddy. "So, if we can convince them that it was I who cast the stunning spell and Teddy who cast the shielding spell, they might just be lenient with him. We'll tell them I attacked Tom and Teddy was merely defending him."

Teddy felt an odd mixture of hope and revulsion at such a plan. Remus was right, they would hardly expel him for trying to defend somebody...

But then what would they do to Remus?

The boy was about to voice this concern, but Remus appeared to have already made up his mind.

"So, the only way for them to determine who cast which spell is to examine the two wands to see which was the last spell to be cast. I've just cast a stunning spell with my wand, so all that remains is for you to cast a shielding charm, Teddy."

"That won't work," Tonks said as Tom sat back down in his chair with a heavy sigh. "They'll know he's cast a second spell."

Remus merely shrugged.

"Who ever said I only attacked Tom once?" he asked, causing his supposed victim to shift uncomfortably in his chair. "We could have had a full scale duel for all the Ministry knows. It's a simple story, Teddy: Your mother was upstairs, the rest of us were in the kitchen, I attacked Tom, we dueled, you tried to break us up by blocking some spells."

There was a pause as Tonks thought this story over.

"Are you...sure you are happy with that, then?" she asked Remus at last, and he nodded immediately.

"I'm positive." he said, and, after gazing at him again for a long moment, causing Tom's eyes to narrow somewhat, Teddy noticed, Tonks nodded too.

"Cast the spell, Teddy." she instructed, and Teddy suddenly felt doubtful.

"But Mum..."

"You heard what your dad said, now cast it."

"But what will happen to Dad when..."

"Now Teddy, there's not a lot of time."

Teddy slowly raised the wand and, after an encouraging nod from Remus, he drew in a deep breath and said:

"Protego!"

And then they waited.

After ten tense minutes Tonks finally released Teddy and mumbled:

"I need a word, Remus." Silently Remus rose to his feet and Teddy watched the two of them slowly make their way into the living room. Tonks closed the door firmly behind them.

Left alone with only Tom's scowling gaze for company, Teddy hurriedly left the room and headed for the garden.

Outside it had begun to rain and the sun had disappeared behind a wall of iron gray cloud. Teddy shivered. It was far too cold for a normal summer's day and yet he did not want to go back inside. He felt dreadful. Guilty. What was going to happen to his father now? Teddy wasn't sure that he could stand to lie, to let somebody else take the blame. The guilt was going to strangle him and make him choke.

"I can't believe you're going to do this." his mother's quiet voice said from somewhere behind him, and Teddy spun around to look back at the house searchingly. It was then that he saw that the living room window had been left open, and he hurried forward to peer inside.

"Really?" Remus was saying as he stood gazing absentmindedly at the photographs of Teddy that sat upon a shelf upon one wall. "Dora I know I'm not exactly the best father in the world, but he is my son. You don't honestly think I'd just sit here and watch him get thrown out of Hogwarts, do you?"

Tonks was stood by the sofa, watching the werewolf intently.

"No, of course I don't," the Auror mumbled, sounding vaguely embarrassed at herself. "I mean of course I can _believe you'll do it_, it's like your middle name or something, Remus Screw-Up-My-Life-For-Others Lupin."

Teddy watched Remus roll his eyes.

"It's just...I can't believe it's come to this, that's all." Tonks finished, sighing deeply.

"It's going to be fine, Dora, don't worry about it."

"Fine? You think it's going to be fine? Well of course it will be, Remus! They'll only throw you in Azkaban for it!"

Teddy felt something inside his chest constrict in horror at the thought, but Remus merely shrugged.

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't. It doesn't matter. Besides, I'll have Kingsley and Harry on my side. They won't send me down for long when they've got the Minister for Magic and the Head of Aurors on their backs."

"And me." Tonks interrupted softly, so softly in fact that Teddy barely heard her. As Remus turned to face her with a questioning look that suggested he was unsure he had heard either, she explained: "You've got Kinglsey, Harry _and me_."

Remus' lips formed a silent _oh_, and Tonks looked down at her feet, embarrassed again. Teddy was worried that she might start to cry. Perhaps Remus thought this too for he took a step towards her and asked:

"Are you okay...?"

And then Teddy witnessed something that suddenly made his heart leap and cause elation to burst through the gloom that was inside his head like a hundred brightly colored fireworks exploding in euphoria.

Tonks stepped forward and threw her arms around Remus, her face buried in his shoulder, and without any hesitation, indeed it seemed to be some sort of reflex action, Remus hugged her back.

And there they stood for at least a minute, simply hugging one another. Outside, Teddy was struggling to suppress a shout of delight.

"Thank you Remus," Tonks said at last, and Teddy could see that her eyes appeared to have drifted closed as if she felt comfortable, as if it were natural, as if it was right. "For Teddy..."

"Don't be ridiculous Dora. As I said, he's my son. I'd spend the rest of my life in Azkaban if I really had to."

Tonks' eyes opened and she slowly drew back from him, hands coming to rest upon his arms.

"Can...can I ask you something?" she asked slowly, staring into his face as if searching for something.

Remus stared back at her, and Teddy found himself holding his breath in anticipation. At last Remus gave a tiny nod.

"Can...can I...can I..." Tonks trailed off into silence, biting her lip in frustration as she struggled to force the question out.

And then there came a knock at the door and Tom called to Tonks from the kitchen.

"You got that, Dora?"

At the sound of Tom's voice Remus' arms dropped to his sides and he hurriedly mumbled:

"I...I should get that." He shoved his hands in his pockets and fled the room before Tonks could manage to say a word. As the door swung shut behind his father, Teddy watched his mother stare blankly after him. Only once Remus was gone did Tonks manage to voice her question aloud:

"Can I keep my wedding ring?" she asked the empty room. Then she sighed heavily and gave her head a firm shake as if to clear her head. Then she sunk down onto the sofa, her head coming to rest in her hands, and Teddy heard her mumble: "Oh sweet Merlin..."

Oh sweet Merlin indeed, Teddy thought with a fresh leap of excitement. Because his father still loved his mother, and his mother still loved his father too.


	7. In Court

_Note: This is not the best note you shall ever read, but I feel compelled to write it anyway. Please remember that I am not American, I am English. I know that some of you sometimes struggle with my grammar and spelling – yes, I do write in quite an old fashioned way sometimes and it does not always make sense to those of you who do not live in the UK. I am sorry for this, but as long as I live in the UK I will be writing in UK English. Attempting to switch between the two will only cause me problems (I'm really not that smart! =) ). Thank you for your understanding and I am sorry to interrupt the story with such a long note! _

_Thank you to everybody who has read this story so far. I really hope you enjoy both this chapter and those that follow it. _

_I know this is not how a trial usually works, but I felt it necessary to show both Remus and Teddy simultaneously, it is far more dramatic, after all! Plus I realised my mistake about 4 pages in...my bad! Don't bother flaming me, I already know. =) Maybe I will rewrite it at some point..._

**7: In Court**

"Whatever your dad says in there," Teddy heard his mother's voice instruct sternly, "you agree with every last word of it, okay?"

The young Gryffindor managed a stiff nod as he stared blankly at the door before him.

"Every last word." Tonks repeated, resting a hand upon his shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze. "Don't worry, love," she told him, voice softening at the sight of his petrified expression. "Your dad knows what he's doing. Everything is going to be just fine, you're not going to be expelled."

"What about Dad?" Teddy asked, leaning against her shoulder, he felt as though his legs were slowly turning to jelly. "What will they do to him?"

"Not much. He'll be absolutely fine." Tonks assured him, and he glanced at her face doubtfully. "Trust me," she insisted, smiling encouragingly. "I'm an Auror!"

Teddy fleetingly recalled the conversation he had overheard some week beforehand between his parents and struggled not to scowl at such a blatant lie.

"We're not going to let anything bad happen, Teddy. Just speak nice and clearly and listen carefully to what your dad says. Besides, they're hardly concerned with you anymore, your dad's confessed. They're just figuring out his motives and stuff."

And then the courtroom door swung open to reveal a security wizard looking at both mother and son expectantly. Teddy was vaguely aware of his mother pressing a firm kiss to the top of his head before she gave him a firm push towards the doorway.

"You'll be fine, love." he heard her call after him as he numbly stumbled his way into the courtroom. "I promise!"

The courtroom was claustrophobic. Ring after ring of silent, robed witches and wizards all staring down at him as he made his way into the centre of the room. Teddy could see his father, sat in the middle next to his own waiting chair and the boy concentrated hard on the remarkably calm expression that was fixed upon Remus' face. The room was cold. Teddy suppressed a shiver as he sunk down into the hard wooden chair that had been appointed to him, before looking up at those around him.

"You are Theodore Remus Lupin?" a tall, dark haired wizard whom Teddy assumed was the judge asked, squinting down at the boy through a pair of thick black glasses.

Teddy forced air into his lungs and, wetting his lips nervously, said:

"Yes."

"Then I will take this opportunity to remind you, Theodore, that due to the serious accusations that have been made against Remus John Lupin, we shall be examining both his and your case simultaneously during this trial. Our primary concern shall be the actions of your father, Theodore, and once a verdict is reached we will be able to establish whether or not your breach of law should result in your expulsion from Hogwarts." The wizard's probing gaze flitted to Remus as he asked, "Now, Theodore is your son, is that correct Mr. Lupin?"

"That is correct." Remus' voice was calm, steady, Teddy felt somewhat relieved by it. He found himself with a desperate urge to reach sideways and grasp hold of his father's hand. He folded his hands determinedly in his lap and concentrated on breathing.

"How old are you, Theodore?" Teddy heard the judge inquire, and for a long moment Teddy was not entirely sure of his answer.

"I'm twelve." he decided at last, glad when once again the judge addressed Remus.

"And you say you and your wife have been estranged for twelve years, Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes. Since just prior to Teddy...Theodore's birth."

"And in those twelve years have you been in contact with your son at all?"

"Never. Not until just over a week ago."

"And your wife?"

"Hardly. We have perhaps exchanged two or three letters in the course of twelve years."

"I see. And this lack of contact...is this something that both you and your wife have agreed upon? Or is it the case that one of you has insisted upon it, despite what the other may say?"

Teddy couldn't help but turn to look at his father at this question. Of course he always believed Tonks when she said Remus had never attempted to see him, but a little part of him couldn't help but hope...

"It was a mutual agreement, I suppose," Remus decided, frowning every so slightly as if he were not entirely sure. "That is to say...she never told me that I could not contact her and I never told her that she could not contact me. It just...happened."

"And Theodore, is this what your mother has led you to believe to be the truth? That your father has made no attempt to contact you?"

It took a sizable pause before Teddy realised that this latest question had been directed at him.

"Yes." he heard himself reply, shifting in his chair yet again.

"Would you say that you feel disconnected from your father because of this?"

Disconnected? Teddy frowned as he attempted to formulate an answer. He had always felt connected to his father in some way, though he was not sure quite in which way this was. They shared a name and not much more. If he were entirely honest Teddy had to admit that this connection he had always been so sure of was little more than wishful thinking, a deep desire.

"I um..." he tried to order his thought, hands balling into fists in his lap in concentration. "I...don't...don't know my dad very well. Nobody tells me things about him, they don't talk about him in front of me or my mum."

"I see. And how long has your mother been in a relationship with Thomas Barton?"

"Um...since around last January. I met him when I came home from school for the Easter holidays."

"How do you feel about Mr. Barton and your mother?"

Rage. Dread. Misery, loathing, pain...

"Happy." Teddy forced the contradiction from his lips and attempted to banish his true feelings to some dark corner of his mind so that they could pounce upon his later. You love Tom, Tonks had reminded him several times over the past week as they cemented their story into their heads. You love him and you didn't want him to get hurt.

"He makes her happy, and that makes me happy." Teddy explained, and this part was easy because it was essentially true. With his next sentence, however, he was sure that he would choke upon his words because they made his stomach twist at their very notion. "I like having him around, he's really good to me. We're like a proper family, me, Mum and Tom." he forced himself to smile as though the very thought of his fake little family made him feel happy. He wanted to jump to his feet and shout at the top of his lungs for all of wizardkind to hear: I already have a father! He is a great wizard! And Mum was wrong about him, too: He _is_ a great man!

Teddy's turmoil went thankfully unnoticed by the judge, as he asked:

"Would you say, then, that you consider Mr. Barton to be like a father to you?"

"Absolutely." Teddy insisted, forcing himself to nod. "Tom's the closest thing I've ever had to a proper father." If he were entirely honest with himself the boy knew this was verging on true. But if he had to pick, he'd have claimed his godfather was by far closer to the mark. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when the questions were again directed at his father.

"Mr. Lupin, how long have you been aware of your wife's relationship with Thomas Barton?"

"Since eleven o'clock, the morning of 12th January." Remus supplied, and Teddy couldn't help but glance at him in surprise at the precision of his statement.

"Eleven o'clock?" the judge repeated, his expression equally as surprised as Teddy felt. "You remember the exact time?"

"Vividly." Remus told him, and his hands came to grip the sides of his chair as if pained at the very thought. "After all, it is not every day that your friend informs you over a cup of tea that your wife is dating another man."

"Which friend was this, Mr. Lupin?"

"Harry James Potter."

Teddy watched the judge twist in his chair and mutter something to a small, dumpy witch sat next to him. She gave a sharp nod and hurriedly exited the courtroom. The judge turned his attention back to the accused pair before him.

"Tell me, Mr. Lupin, how did you feel when Mr. Potter gave you this news?"

Remus was silent for a long moment, his confidence seemed to have been shaken at this question, but Teddy watched him take a couple of deep, calming breaths before giving his answer.

"It was deeply upsetting." he recalled slowly, almost reluctantly. "Indeed I must admit that I...I felt crushed."

"Why? You have chosen not to see your wife for twelve whole years, Mr. Lupin. Why should you feel so upset?"

"Because there are some things that we choose to do for the benefit of those we love instead of for the benefit of ourselves. I..." Remus trailed off, his eyes drifted shut for a brief moment as if searching for some form of inner strength, before he sat straighter in his chair and declared definitely: "I love my wife."

Teddy's finger curled around the arms of his chair in an attempt to suppress the pure euphoria that erupted through him like a bolt of lightening. He'd been right, he'd really been right, he'd known it from the moment his parents had lain eyes upon each other...

"At the time that I left her I felt that both she and Theodore would have better lives without me. I felt it best for them to pretend that I did not exist. I have always loved my wife, my absence never changed that."

"I see." the judge acknowledged this remarkable, fantastic, wonderful fact with just two simple words. Teddy felt as though some major event in his life had just been ruined. "And so you still consider Mrs. Lupin to be your wife in more than just name? You feel that she has therefore betrayed you by beginning a relationship with somebody else?"

"The idea...may have crossed my mind on occasion." Remus considered, frowning ever so slightly as he considered the question. "But only when I felt like being irrational, if I felt particularly down trodden by the whole business. Otherwise I was pleased that she was happy. One of us ought be."

"Would you say you were feeling irrational the day you went to visit your wife on the day in question?"

"Not at first. Before I arrived I took some time to...order my thoughts, I suppose. I decided to concentrate on the fact that I would be seeing Theodore. I thought it would make the visit easier, to see it as an opportunity to see him again. But it didn't, in fact I felt far worse."

"And why was that?"

"Theodore and I talked for a while, he gave me a tour of his bedroom. He told me about how he liked to go to Quidditch matches with Mr. Barton. It occurred to me that as curious as he had been to meet me, Theodore did not feel any real need to know me. He already has a father. It was hard to remain positive after I realized that. I sat at the table with the three of them and thought to myself that if Mr. Barton had never walked into their lives things might have been different. Theodore might still have come to find me and perhaps things would have turned out better for me for once."

"You blame Mr. Barton for your unhappiness?"

"Yes. It didn't seem right, him sitting there with my family, helping my son with him homework, tidying up what was once my kitchen and falling asleep next to my wife each night. I just...snapped. I tried to hex him. Twice."

"Are you admitting to the accusations made against you, Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes. I am."

"And you say you did so because, for a brief moment, you simply lost your head?"

"Yes."

"If that is the case, Mr. Lupin, why did you attempt to hex Mr. Barton a second time?"

The judge sounded somewhat triumphant, but Remus answered the question with ease.

"After the first incident, Theodore called for his mother – she had been upstairs at the time – and when she came in Mr. Barton immediately launched into an exaggerated account of what I had done. She did not believe what he had said, they argued for a few minutes...he drew his wand and threatened to curse me, which mainly worried me because he seemed quite hysterical and Theodore was stood just beside me. I was afraid that Mr. Barton might miss me and strike Theodore instead. So, after a brief hesitation I attempted to stun him."

"I see." The judge became distracted by the reappearance of the dumpy witch, who hurried up to him and whispered in his ear.

"We will now call upon Mr. Harry James Potter to give evidence." the judge declared, and the courtroom doors swung open. Teddy watched numbly as his godfather strode into the room. Harry came to stand at Remus' side, waving away the witch who was about to conjure him a chair.

"Please confirm your name." boomed the judge, as Harry glanced at Teddy and offered him a reassuring smile.

"Harry James Potter." the Auror supplied. It was unnecessary, Teddy thought. As if anybody could fail to recognize Harry Potter...

"Mr. Potter, did you inform Mr. Lupin that his wife was in a relationship with Thomas Barton?"

"Yes, I did."

"Could you please tell the court what Mr. Lupin's reaction was to this news?"

"Controlled, as always." Harry recalled, sounding mildly troubled. "He kept his feelings to himself and changed the subject. It's always worried us...his friends and I, that is...how well Remus can bottle things up. It's not good for him. Sometimes he snaps."

"Could you give us an example?"

"Well...there was the time he left Tonks and came to find Ron, Hermione and me."

"Twelve years ago?"

"Yeah. We were at the old headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Remus found us. He offered to help us with whatever it was we were planning against Voldemort – he didn't know what that was at the time. He told us Tonks was going to have a baby, then he told us he'd decided to leave her. I got angry with him, he got angry with me, I said he was a coward and...well, he snapped."

"In what way did he snap?"

"He sent me flying backwards into a wall. Then he ran away."

"Would you say that Mr. Lupin was prone to such outbursts?"

"Not at all. I'd never seen him like that before, we were all really shocked. It's never happened since, until now, that is. Remus is the calmest, mildest man I know and even when he did loose his temper with me he did no real harm. Everybody has limits and even when pushed to them he still manages to be, on the grand scale of things, harmless. Even if the spells hadn't been blocked Tom would have been out cold for a little, nothing more. Remus didn't try to kill him, he didn't try to cause him serious injury, either. You're not looking at some dark wizard bent on revenge, Remus is an ex-Order member who tried his best to stay calm and, for once, failed."

Teddy couldn't help it. He smiled. When Harry had been allowed to leave the courtroom and the judge had barraged him with questions, Teddy no longer felt panicked. Before he knew it, he was free to leave too. His mother was waiting for him in the corridor outside.

"Guess what, Mum!" Teddy told her as she engulfed him in a firm hug.

"What's that, love?"

"Dad loves you. He said so."

Tonks drew back from him, hands upon his shoulders as the smile faded from her face.

"Teddy..." she began in the firm, slightly tortured tone that always made Teddy feel dreadful for ever opening his mouth. He could not bear to let her continue.

"I mean it, Mum! He did! He said so in front of the whole entire court!"

Tonks let out a sigh.

"Oh Teddy," she said, smoothing his hair soothingly with one hand. "Of course he did, love! Of course he lied about it, how else will they believe him?"

Teddy wanted to scream.


	8. Crash

_Note: Thank you to everybody who has reviewed this fic, I hope you continue to enjoy it! Yet again I am sorry for the painfully slow update, right now fanfiction is not at the top of my list, I have a very time consuming project for college and I am also rewriting my novel. I promise to try and be more speedy next time!_

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all things related to Harry Potter belong to J K Rowling, not me, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**8: Crash**

"Is Dad going to prison?"

Teddy's mother looked up from her newspaper, ignoring Tom's mutterings over by the kettle.

"Nah, I don't think so love." she said, offering her son a reassuring grin. "Harry reckons they're just going to fine him."

"How much?"

"Not much."

"How much is not much?"

"I don't know, Teddy, but whatever it is I'll go halves with him."

"I thought you said he refused to let you do that?" Tom said as he carefully levitated three cups of tea over onto the table.

"Yeah, he did." Tonks' brow creased as she looked back down at the Prophet. "I'm going to have to talk to him about it."

"Why?" Tom asked, unconcerned as he took as seat next to her, reaching over to pluck a slice of toast from her plate. "If he wants to pay himself I say we let him."

Tonks positively glowered at him.

"What?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "We're trying to save for a holiday!"

He was not graced with an answer, so he hurriedly changed the subject. "I was thinking, since it's your day off, the two of us could go out for lunch. It's been ages since we did anything like that."

Teddy wondered where he fitted into this plan, he had thought they had promised him Quidditch.

"You could go and see Harry or your gran, Ted."

"Can I go to Dad's?" Teddy asked immediately, and at Tonks' reply Tom turned to stare at her.

"Actually I think he's working at home today, love." she said, eyes still upon her newspaper.

"How do you know where he is or what he's doing?" Tom asked, looking positively bemused.

Tonks waved a hand in the vague direction of the kitchen countertop.

"Mentioned it in a letter."

"He wrote to you?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Well I wrote to him to say thank him for everything he did the other day and, being Remus, he naturally had to write back to dismiss the notion that he's done anything worthy of thanks."

Tom's eyes came to rest upon the opened letter, and he fidgeted in his chair.

Tonks abandoned her paper and looked over at him, her hands coming to rest upon the table.

"Do you want to read it?" she asked him, eyebrow raised.

Tom considered this question for a long moment before, quite wisely Teddy thought, deciding:

"Nope."

Tonks didn't seem entirely pleased with his answer. She rose sharply to her feet and picked up her plate.

"Trust is a wonderful thing." she muttered under her breath as she marched over to dump the plate in the sink. It was at that moment that Teddy decided that it would be wise to leave.

He sat on the stairs and listened to the furious shouting. He could not make out the words, there was only continuous sound, drifting through the door and up the stairs, making his head ache. He rested his head against the bannister and closed his eyes, concentrating on the sound of his breathing...

_Crash_!

Teddy's eyes snapped open. The shouting had come to an abrupt end. The boy got quietly to his feet and hurried down the stairs, without much hesitation he flung the door open to reveal the aftermath.

Both Tom and his mother were on their feet, each standing at opposite ends of the kitchen, staring at the smashed remains of a plate that lay upon the floor between them. There was a long pause before Tonks hurriedly turned and grabbed her son by the arm.

"C'mon Teddy," she told him, her voice oddly higher than usual. "If...if you want to go see your Dad...well I'm sure he'll make time for you."

Teddy allowed himself to be towed across the hallway and out of the front door. As they made their way to the apparation point he wondered just what he ought to say to his mother, but nothing seemed to spring to mind. They made their way to Bluebell Cottage in complete silence.

"I'm...rather busy..." Remus had explained when he had found the pair upon his doorstep.

Teddy had turned to look at the strange expression upon his mother's face as she had said:

"Well you're not as busy as me."

"Right..." the werewolf reached to run a resigned hand through his hair before fixing a bright smile upon his face. "That's fine. Come on then, Teddy." He stepped aside to let the boy inside. "Are you okay?" Teddy had heard him ask Tonks quietly.

"I'm fine, just horribly busy. And Harry's at work and Mum's gone shopping, so there was only you...can you make him dinner later?"

Remus had barely nodded before she had turned and fled back down the path, calling goodbye to Teddy over her shoulder and disapparating with a crack.

Teddy watched Remus stare somewhat blankly at the empty garden, before he finally closed the door and turned to look at the boy, smiling broadly.

Teddy smiled back, though his heart was not truly in it. He wished Tonks hadn't left in such a hurry, he should have said something to her...something...comforting...

"What would you like to do, Teddy?" his father asked him as he drew out his wand and, with a neat flick sent a load of papers upon the sofa flying into a pile upon a nearby bookcase. "I don't know that there's all that much to do here, I'm afraid."

Usually Teddy would simply want to sit and talk, extract as much information as he could and absorb it like a sponge, but he could not seem to think of any questions. He cast his eyes around the room for some form of inspiration, his gaze coming to rest upon the wedding photograph set atop the fireplace.

"When you and Mum were together, did you used to argue a lot about everything?" he wondered, and Remus shoved his hands in his pockets, frowning.

"We...argued a lot about a small number of things." he decided, walking over and taking a seat upon the sofa. Teddy turned away from the fireplace to look at him.

"And when you argued, did you used to lose your temper and throw stuff at each other?"

"Throw stuff?" Remus shook his head with a smile. "Absolutely not! I didn't have a death wish!" He chuckled quietly under his breath before he looked up to see that Teddy was not at all amused. There was a sizable pause before Remus decided: "I'll make tea."

"I'm not worried, I'm just..."

"Worried, Remus. Just admit it, you're worried."

Teddy edged a little closer to the kitchen doorway, peering inside.

"No I'm not!" Remus was insisting as he ransacked one of the cupboards, finally extracting a packet of biscuits. "Why on earth would I be worried? It's not as though they started cursing one another or anything. I just think...well...maybe somebody should go over there, see how she is. It would be kind."

"Why don't you go yourself?" suggested the voice from the fireplace, and Remus laughed out loud.

"Oh yes, Molly! Because that would make things so much better, wouldn't it?"

"It might do. It might have nothing to do with you, you know. Maybe they've always...been like that. Did Teddy say why they were rowing?"

"No. Look, I have to go, he's only in the next room. Just...invite Tonks for tea or something, check up on things. Can you do that for me?"

"Oh I suppose so..."

"Good. Is Arthur still okay for this afternoon?"

"Yes dear, of course he is. He can come over and fetch it now, if you like."

"That would be very kind of him, I only have two days left, you see, and I haven't the time to go myself."

"He'll be right over."

The flames died in the grate as Remus carefully picked up the two mugs of tea and the biscuits. Teddy hurriedly crept back to his place upon the sofa. He had barely taken his mug with a smile of thanks before there came the crack of apparation and somebody knocked upon the door. Remus set his own mug down upon the coffee table and went to answer it.

"Afternoon Teddy!" Arthur Weasley called as he stepped across the threshold, smiling broadly at the boy as Remus wordlessly disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Hi," Teddy had barely greeted the wizard before Remus had reappeared, a tiny box in his hand.

"Here it is, Arthur," he said, holding the box out for Mr. Weasley to take. "Thank you ever so much for doing this for me."

"Don't think anything of it! Can't have them carting you off to Azkaban for the rest of the week, can we? How much are you selling it for, then?"

Teddy observed the strange scene before him, Mr. Weasley had opened the box and was eying the object inside as Remus told him:

"As much as they'll give me. Twenty...thirty galleons if they're feeling generous. And for the love of Merlin, don't tell Tonks. I like my face as it is, thank you very much."

Mr. Weasley chuckled cheerily, reaching to tap the side of his nose.

"I won't say a word!" he promised, and with that he turned and headed for the door, calling goodbye over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Teddy asked when Remus had shut the door again. "What was in the box?"

"A necklace that belonged to my mother." Remus told him, retrieving his tea and taking a seat beside the boy. "Arthur's going to sell it for me."

"Why would that make Mum mad?"

"She...wouldn't approve, that's all."

"Why would you want to sell your mother's necklace?"

The werewolf took a long sip of his tea.

"Because it didn't suit me." he told the boy with a grin. "Clashed terribly with my eyes."

Teddy sniggered, leaning back in his seat. It was peaceful, he thought, sitting around, just chatting to his dad, so much better than at home with Tom making probing comments and his mum losing her temper with him. He wanted to stay forever, sat in the peace and quiet, giggling and drinking tea with biscuits to dunk. It would be perfect. And it could be real, he was sure of it, just as long as Remus said the right thing...

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"You know when we were in court?"

"Yes?"

"And you said...you said that you love my mum?"

There was a long pause, before Remus finally said:

"Yes...?"

"Mum says you were lying. Were you?"

A full minute passed in silence. Remus appeared to find his mug very interesting. Teddy simply stared.

"It is difficult..." Remus said at last, slowly, cautiously, "not to love your mother. But I try. Very hard."

"Why?" Teddy asked, utterly bemused. "Why would you want to try to not love somebody? If you love them...well...well why would you want to stop?"

"Because love is a very painful thing, Teddy." Remus said softly, his gaze once again upon the fireplace. "Especially when a person does not love you back."

Before he could give it much thought, Teddy insisted:

"Mum does love you! She does, she really does!"

"She did." Remus corrected, eyes a little glazed. "She did, but she doesn't anymore."

The words were drenched with such sorrow that Teddy felt as though they were drowning. And there was only one way to reach the lifeboats, the boy thought.

He was going to prove his parents wrong, he swore it. He'd have them stand before one another and admit the truth: I love you.


	9. And It Happened

_Note: For **Messer-Moony-sezs-awhoo**, for always being kind enough to review this fic, and for having an epic name. =)_

_I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I am still snowed under with work! Besides, it seemed like an appropriate place to finish! =)_

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**9: And It Happened**

Come late evening Remus had set about cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and Teddy had been left to dose off to sleep upon the sofa. The child had been asleep for near on half an hour when he was awoken by somebody knocking upon the front door. As Remus came back into the room and headed to answer it, Teddy slowly opened his eyes, only to snap them shut again when he heard his father greet his mother softly, informing her:

"He's fallen asleep on the sofa."

"Right..." Teddy heard Tonks whisper as she stepped into the cottage. There was a long, awkward silence and Teddy supposed that neither of them knew quite what to say to one another. What seemed to be a decade passed before Remus finally thought of something vaguely conversational to say and remarked:

"Not pink today, I see."

"No...not today." Tonks mumbled in agreement.

"I...um...never had you down as a platinum blonde."

Tonks gave a somewhat mechanical little laugh.

"Neither did I," she admitted. "But Tom reckons it's better...I told him I look like one of those Barbie dolls the muggles buy for their kids..." she gave another rather embarrassed laugh. "But he says he likes it."

"I think the pink was far more you." Remus told her, and Teddy could just imagine him shoving his hands awkwardly in his pockets as he mumbled: "I liked it, anyway..."

"You and Sirius used to call it obnoxious!" Tonks accused, amused rather than angry.

"Yes, but that was mostly Sirius..."

"No it wasn't! I distinctly remember you saying it! I remember, you said that it was obnoxious!"

Teddy found a smile tugging at his lips as he heard Remus chuckle, it was as though they were forgetting to be awkward.

"Yes, but if I remember correctly my exact words were "Really, Nymphadora, Sirius is right, the colour is utterly obnoxious, but I absolutely adore it!" It was a compliment..."

"You called me the name!"

"But that's what you're called..."

"I hate the name!"

Remus' laughter became muffled as though he had clamped his hand over his mouth.

"We should keep our voices down," he whispered eventually. "We'll wake Teddy up."

"Oh...yeah..." Tonks whispered, and Teddy opened one eye a crack to find that the two adults had come to stand before the fireplace, both smiling at their recollections.

"Merlin, Molly used to drop such massive hints, didn't she? "Oh Tonks dear, doesn't Hestia's hair look pretty today..." Haha! And that Christmas when Ginny announced she wanted pink hair too..."

Teddy heard Remus laugh again.

"She told me all about that in the kitchen...you should have seen the look on her face when I said I thought your hair was actually rather pretty...she said "Just because you like the girl, Remus, doesn't mean you have to pretend to me, too!" I told her that since I was going so dull and grey you were just making up for it, colourful enough for the both of us..."

"You're not that grey, not yet!"

"Don't be daft, I'd bet galleons you couldn't find a brown hair left!"

"I can! Look, right there!"

Again Teddy opened his eye a little, only to see Tonks step forward to examine the werewolf more closely, pointing a finger towards his forehead.

"You're a terrible liar." Remus told her, grinning at the look of indignation that appeared upon her heart-shaped face.

"I'm not!" she cried defiantly. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with grey hair! It's....distinguished!"

"Distinguished? Oh Dora, please..."

"Look there! A whole clump!" Tonks took another step forward, reaching forward to point again. "Perfectly brown, every last one..." she trailed off into silence.

They both froze, her fingertip brushing his hair, their faces mere inches apart as they stared at one another. Slowly, carefully, Tonks lowered her arm. There was a very long silence.

At first Teddy hardly noticed her moving, so cautious and slight was the action, but it suddenly occurred to him that the small gap between them seemed to be growing steadily smaller. Then Tonks visibly moved, her mind apparently made up.

And it happened.

She leant forward a pressed the lightest of kisses to his lips.

Teddy found himself with a mad urge to jump up, or let out a cheer, until he saw Remus' eyes snap closed and he took a step backwards.

"You should take Teddy home." he said in a strained whisper, shoving his hands into his pockets as he reluctantly opened his eyes again and looked at her.

Her gave instantly fell to her shoes as she drew in a rushed breath and mumbled:

"I....shouldn't have...I'm sorry I..."

"He can't be comfortable lying there." Remus continued, ignoring her stuttering.

"No...you're right." she agreed, nodding her head vigorously. "I'll take him home."

Teddy closed his eye, just in time to feel her hand upon his shoulder.

"Teddy, love," he heard her say, her voice a little as she shook him gently by the shoulder. "It's late, we should be getting home."

Teddy made a show of stretching his arms and giving an exaggerated yawn as he opened his eyes. As soon as he was on his feet, Tonks fled to the front door.

"Bye, Dad." the boy said, throwing his arms around his father, who gave him a somewhat half-hearted hug back.

"Goodnight, Teddy." Remus offered him a bright smile and Teddy wondered how he managed it.

He reluctantly released his father and followed his mother, who was already halfway down the garden path.

"I'll see you soon!" he called back over his shoulder, and Remus waved at him, smile faltering as he did so. It made Teddy wonder just how true his final comment would be.


	10. Bittersweet News

_Note: In celebration of being offered a place at my first choice of university, I have given myself the evening off from homework! Here is the result!_

_Thank you to my reviewers for their kind words about this fic! You make me smile. =)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**10: Bittersweet News **

Teddy sat cross-legged upon the carpet of his godfather's living room, staring at the parchment that he held in his hands.

_Dear Teddy,_

_I would love to come and watch the Quidditch with you and your mother, only it's my turn to work weekends and so I won't be around at all on Saturday. Make sure you cheer extra loud for me, and I want to hear all about the match next time I see you._

_Love_

_Dad_

Teddy folded up the letter and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans.

"Where's Harry?" he asked Ginny Potter, who was sat upon the sofa, flicking through a Quidditch magazine. So engrossed was the red-haired witch that she merely waved a vague hand in the direction of the kitchen door. Teddy got to his feet and went in search of his godfather.

He found the wizard in question busy making a mountain of sandwiches for their lunch.

"I need you to talk some sense into my dad." the boy told the Auror flatly. "He's being a prat."

Harry paused to glance over his shoulder at the child, eyebrow raised.

"Merlin you're like your mum." he muttered, and with that he laughed.

Teddy didn't quite see what was so funny.

"He won't come to Quidditch at the weekend! He says he's working!" he complained, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at Harry until the laughter subsided.

"I know that's disappointing, Teddy, but work is work..."

"And he didn't let me go round to Bluebell cottage yesterday because he said he was out! Then before he said he couldn't pick me up and take me to the park because he'd promised to go to Molly's for tea!"

"Teddy if your dad's just having a busy week..."

"But he's lying! He's lying to me!"

"Why would he do that? Really, Teddy, your dad can't just drop everything the moment you fancy seeing him, he's a busy man..."

"But..."

"Maybe if you ask him to do something next week he'll say yes, if you give him warning he can make sure he's not busy..."

"But he's lying! I know he is!" Teddy's voice had risen to a shout and behind him the door slowly crept open. Ginny poked her head curiously into the room.

"Why would he be lying?" Harry asked again, shooting his wife a bemused look over the top of Teddy's head.

"Because Mum kissed him!" Teddy cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "And now...now he's freaking out about it or something!"

An strangled little squeak sounded from behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to look at Ginny, who he could have sworn had been smiling until Harry hissed:

"Ginny!"

Ginny fixed a grim expression upon her face.

"When was this, Teddy?" Harry asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

"Last week, when I went round for dinner."

"Right...well...well the thing is, Teddy, now that you see your dad...well he and your mum are going to see each other quite a bit. And...and well that means they're going to have to be friends, and friends...well they kiss sometimes, it's friendly, you know? Like your mum kisses me when she says bye, doesn't she? I'm sure...I'm sure that's all it was."

"It wasn't like that." Teddy insisted, much to Harry's discomfort. "They were talking and laughing together and then she sort of...kissed him. And then he backed off and told her to take me home."

"Oh Merlin..." Ginny breathed, taking a step into the room. "Harry, do you think..."

"Ginny!" Harry said again, and she immediately fell silent. "Listen, Teddy, sometimes...sometimes people do stuff, like...like what your mum did...when they don't mean it. Sometimes people get a bit caught up in the moment and they do something silly, okay? I don't want you to think that...that this means anything, your mum and dad aren't together anymore and your mum loves Tom very much. I'm sure she didn't mean to kiss your dad, she just...well she just made a mistake. Now...how about you grab those plates and take them outside for me? It's a nice day, we can eat out there."

Teddy obediently picked up the plates and shuffled towards the back door as Ginny took a few steps into the kitchen, expression still grim. Once outside Teddy hurried to crouch beneath the open window, listening carefully.

"Well..."Ginny's voice announced from back inside the house. "You know what this could mean, don't you?"

"I know exactly what it means." Harry replied, sounding far less amused than his wife by far. "It means I'm going to bloody kill Tonks! That's what it means!"

"Oh come on, Harry!" Ginny cried, and Teddy peered through the window to glimpse her beaming face. "Don't you try and tell me that you wouldn't be dancing round the house in triumph like the rest of us if they got back together!"

"I never said I wouldn't." Harry reasoned as he carefully levitated the tray of sandwiches towards the back door. "I just thinks she deserves a curse or two for landing me in such an awkward conversation with Teddy. You didn't help, you know! Grinning away like a Cheshire Kneazle! Besides it was just a kiss, Ginny, and Remus didn't react all that well. And then there's Tom..."

"Tom's not good for her."

"Well Tonks doesn't think that, does she? Merlin, you are _so_ like Molly! Keep your voice down, anyway, Teddy could hear you and before we know it it'll be Tonks killing me and not the other way round."

The back door began to open and Teddy hastily straightened up, narrowly avoiding smacking his head on the window ledge.

Teddy arrived home later that afternoon and, after spotting his mother and Tom curled up on the sofa together, listening to the wireless, headed straight for his bedroom.

Within minutes the soft hum of the wireless downstairs ceased and he heard footsteps on the stairs. There came a soft knock upon his door.

"Teddy, love?"

The boy's gaze dropped from the ceiling he had been aimlessly staring at.

"Yeah?"

Tonks pushed the door open and came to perch on the end of the bed, smiling brightly.

"Guess what!" she challenged as he regarded her cheerful expression warily.

"What, Mum?"

She leaned forward, pleased with herself as she announced:

"I've owled your dad today, asking if you can go stay with him next week. All week! And guess what?"

Teddy simply stared at her, mouth falling open slightly in surprise.

"He said yes! He's going to take time off work and everything! Harry's going to come and take you over. Pretty cool, huh?"

Teddy stifled the explosion of excitement that rushed through him, resisting the urge to bounce up and down on the bed, he didn't want to make his mother jump.

"That's...amazing!" he declared, and then he couldn't help but clap his hands together in excitement.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it? That means you won't have to sit around at Gran's all week whilst Tom and I are away."

The excitement vanished.

"You and Tom are going away?" Teddy tried to hide the disappointment from his voice.

"Yep. We're borrowing Gran's cottage up in the Lakes."

"Why?"

"Why?" Tonks chuckled. "Well why not? It'll be nice to have some time to ourselves, Tom reckons we should go hiking. That'll make everybody laugh, won't it? Just imagine me going hiking!"

Teddy could not quite bring himself to laugh properly. Luckily she didn't seem to notice for she reached to ruffle his hair as she got to her feet, telling him:

"Anyway, you make sure you've put all these clothes in the wash, else you'll be off to your dad's house in your pajamas."

And with that she left the room, a spring in her step.

That evening Teddy sat in the living room and hid behind a book, snatching glances at the couple upon the sofa, scowling at their closeness and sighing to hear of Tom's repeated comments about how nice it would be to get away from it all.

"Just think," the intruder said, arms wrapped firmly around Tonks' waist as she leaned back against him, her legs sprawled across the rest of the sofa. "It'll be perfect." He pressed a firm kiss to the back of her pale blonde head before his chin came to rest upon her shoulder. "Just the two of us. Just you and me."

And that was the whole point of this little holiday, Teddy realized miserably. Every mention of Teddy's father, from anyone at all, seemed to irritate Tom. Then annoy him. Then infuriate him.

And then there was the touching. Constantly. The hand on Tonks' shoulder if he passed her in the kitchen, the way he always clung to her hand whenever they were out, the way his fingers were constantly fiddling with her hair when they sat together, how he put his arms tightly around her as if to stop her escape.

Tom was becoming more paranoid, more possessive. And he wanted Tonks away from here. Away from home. And away Remus.

And for the love of Merlin, Teddy thought furiously as Tonks shifted further back against the intruder's side, it was about time his mother realized, too.


	11. I Love You

_Note: I estimate that there will be around 3 more chapters until I finish this fic! I am now free from college! So updates should come nice a quickly!_

_Here is a twist that randomly popped into my head. Please don't hate me for it until the next chapter!_

_Thank you so much to my reviewers, you really do make my day!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**11: I Love You**

"Promise you'll owl me!"

"'Course I will, love."

"Every day!"

"Yep, every day, I promise!"

Teddy gave his mother one last firm hug before she gave him a firm push in the direction of the door, where Harry stood waiting for him.

"Go on, if you leave Harry waiting much longer he'll be late for work." Tonks warned, shooting Harry a grateful look over the top of Teddy's head.

"Bye Mum!" Teddy called as he followed Harry out into the front garden.

Harry wished Tonks a good holiday. Teddy did nothing of the sort.

"I know why you're here." the boy told the black haired Auror darkly once the door had been closed behind them. "It's so Mum doesn't have to show up at Dad's house and be really awkward around him."

As they rounded the corner, Harry shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his robes.

"That's daft, Teddy," he assured his godson warily. "I fancied popping over to see your dad, that's all. I've not seen him for a while now."

"No, that's daft, Harry. If you wanted to go see my dad you would do it some time when you aren't supposed to be at the Ministry. Not today."

Harry audibly sighed.

"Look, Teddy," he said as they came to a halt at the apparation point. "Why don't you just focus on having a really great week with your dad? Just think, all the time you'll have to...ask questions, or go out places or just be together. That's going to be pretty cool, isn't it? Forget what happened the other day, just be glad your mum's going to have a nice week and so are you. Okay?"

Reluctantly, Teddy nodded his head, eyes upon his shoes. And with that Harry grasped hold of his arm and they disappeared with a crack.

When Remus opened the door to them some minutes later, he appeared to be midway through a conversation and gestured for them to come in with a vague hand gesture.

"I told Glenn all about it last week." he was saying, as Teddy and Harry shuffled through the doorway. "In fact I owled him. Twice."

"Yeah..." a female voice said, and Teddy looked up to see a woman sat upon the sofa. "But I don't think he gives a damn."

As Remus muttered irritably under his breath, the woman sat up a little straighter in her chair. She had long, dark hair and a pale, somewhat sickly complexion, heavy-lidded eyes watching the werewolf as he began to pace up and down the room.

"He says you're on a warning already." she said, carefully polished fingernails tapping upon her knee absentmindedly. "I reckon he's just mad he had to cover the day of your trial. Anyway, he says he'll let you have four days, no more."

"He said a week was fine."

"He lied." The woman gave an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, Remus. What can I say? Our boss is a bastard." Her eyes came to rest upon the newcomers, and she looked more apologetic still.

Remus paused in his pacing to offer her a pleading look.

"Maggie..." he began, only for her to shake her head vigorously.

"Don't even think about it!" she told him, pulling a face when he continued nevertheless.

"Will you cover for me? Just for three days?"

"Just for three days?! That's ages, Remus!"

"I covered two of your shifts last week."

"Yes but...but three days in a row....?!"

"I'll make it worth your while."

Maggie halted in her complaining, a amused smile touching her lips.

"Will you now?" she said, getting to her feet and eying him disbelievingly. "And what could you possible do that would make three days stuck in an office with Glenn worth my while?"

Remus' brow creased as he attempted to come up with an impressive answer.

"Ha!" Maggie cried, stride forward so that she could point an accusing finger at him. "You don't know!"

"You can pick." he decided quickly, and Teddy frowned at the grin that spread across Maggie's face as she leant towards him and warned:

"You're going to regret that!" And with that she practically skipped over the the sofa and snatched up her handbag. Teddy watched her reach inside and draw out an odd looking little box, holding it out for Remus to see triumphantly.

"You know what this is, don't you?" she said, grinning broadly.

As Remus sighed heavily, Teddy offered Harry a questioning look and the Auror supplied:

"That's a muggle camera."

"Go on then!" Maggie demanded, pressing a button and causing the camera to make a strange whirring noise. A little green light appeared on top of it. "You know what to do!"

"We're not going over this again." Remus told her stubbornly, folding his arms firmly across his chest.

"Yes we are!" Maggie insisted, brandishing the camera in an almost threatening manner. "I've got fifty galleons riding on this bet, if I win that's over a hundred galleons in my pocket! Now go on!"

"Have you ever considered the possibility that you might lose?" Remus asked her, but she waved an impatient hand at him.

"Just do it!"

"If I do...you'll cover my shifts?"

"Yep! So go on, show me the bite! Fifty galleons says it's bigger than mine and Glenn's!"

There was a sizable pause as Remus considered her proposal, before reaching to grasp the hem of his jumper and pull it up over his head.

"Do you have any idea how childish this is?" he asked, voice muffled by the material as he pulled the garment off.

"If I win, we can go out for dinner." Maggie offered, only to let out a loud whistle of surprise. "That's a winner!" she declared excitedly, rushing forward to get a closer look. "That's a winner, right there!"

Teddy simply stared. The flesh upon Remus' right set of ribs was stained a fragile, withered pink, framing a deep, angry looking scar that looked hideously like a set of fang marks. As Maggie set about snapping photographs on the muggle contraption, the boy felt his stomach clench uncomfortably.

After a brief moment Remus hastily pulled the jumper firmly back on, only for the witch to let out a odd squeal of excitement.

"Yes!" she cried, launching herself at him and throwing her arms around his neck. "You've just won me a load of gold! Do you have any idea how good it's going to be to see the look on Glenn's face? Oh I love you!"

"I was supposed to be at work five minutes ago." Remus reminded her, rolling his eyes as she pressed a firm kiss to his cheek, grip upon him iron-like. "So hurry up, Mags, or Glenn might just sack me."

"I mean it, I actually love you, Remus, you're utterly amazing..."

"I'm not utterly amazing, I'm just horribly scarred. Now for the love of Merlin, go to work!"

She offered him one last fleeting grin before releasing him and practically skipping to the door, pausing as she pulled it open, her expression suddenly sobering.

"I'm being serious, you know." she called back, reaching to brush the hair from her eyes. "You really are amazing, and I really do love you."

"I'd say the same to you," Remus told her, eyebrow raised. "Except I might just love you far less and think you are far from amazing if you manage to lose me my job."

"Alright, I'm going!" Maggie cried, grinning once again, and with that she hurried out the door, letting it swing shut behind her.

Teddy was only vaguely aware of his father finally offering him and Harry a proper greeting, the boy shuffled forward to take Maggie's place upon the sofa.

What in Merlin's name, he thought numbly, had just happened? Who was Maggie? Remus had never mention her before, and what the bloody hell had they been talking about? _I love you_...?

Harry hadn't seemed very surprised by the whole scene. Did he know all about this...secret relationship? Or was it even secret if Remus had allowed them to just walk in as he had done? What had happened to careful introductions, too, like the time he had met Tom for the first time?

_I LOVE you_....?!

Since when?! And how?! It had been a mere week since Remus had admitted that he still loved Tonks. Had he changed his mind? In just a week?

As both Remus and Harry wandered into the kitchen, chatting about something that Teddy could not even seem to hear from being so absorbed by his thoughts, the boy felt a sudden fierce urge to burst into tears.


	12. The Plea

_Note: Thanks to my lovely reviewers and an extra thanks to Kuroida for throwing me the rope! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**12: The Plea**

Teddy stood in the kitchen, watching his father carefully ladle the steaming soup into two large bowls upon the counter top.

"Dad?" he asked, gripping the back of one of the kitchen chairs with a firm grasp.

"Hm?"

"How long have you known Maggie?"

As he levitated the bowls over to the table, pausing to pull open a draw and search a couple of spoons, Remus frowned a little.

"Maggie? Well...I suppose I've known her since she turned up at the Help Centre looking for work...that was about...eight years ago, I suppose."

"So you've been working together for eight years?"

"About that, yes."

Teddy felt the sick feeling from earlier that day resurface in his stomach. Eight years was a long time, he thought dully.

"Do you see her much when you're not at work?"

Remus extracted the spoons from the drawer and reached to push it closed again.

"A fair bit. She comes round to visit, or I go and visit her, or sometimes we go out for a meal."

As the bowls began to lower themselves to the table, Teddy asked:

"How long have you been dating her?"

The bowls landed with a thud, sloshing soup all over the table.

"How long have I _what_...?" Remus asked, eyes widening in surprise. Teddy felt a rush of nerves engulf his body, only for them to be replaced by confusion when his father burst out laughing, reaching to grasp the countertop for support, doubled over in amusement.

Teddy felt colour blossoming on his cheeks and he hastily took a seat at the table.

"I'll tell her you said that, she'll laugh herself silly." Remus told him as he finally regained his composure, clearing away the spilled soup with a flick of his wand.

"Then you're...not...together?" Teddy attempted to clarify, relief washing him over when Remus confirmed:

"No. Absolutely not."

"She said she loved you." Teddy pointed out, reached to pull a bowl towards him and accepting the spoon that Remus offered him.

"I'm sure she does love me." Remus sat down opposite him and reached for his own bowl. "But not like _that_. Maggie and I are such good friends that we're more like siblings than we are anything else."

"So you don't like her...like that?"

"I wouldn't want to ruin things." Remus told him, pausing to take a sip of his soup. "I liked Maggie the first time I ever set eyes upon her, she...she reminded me of your mother. A lot. And when your mother and I were just friends...well I think for the most part we liked each other far more than after we were married."

"Why?"

Remus took a long while eating his soup as he formulated an answer.

"When you are...with somebody...you expect far more from them than if you are only friends. Friendship is not as complicated as love is."

"How are Mum and Maggie alike?" Teddy wanted to know, reaching to pour himself a glass of water.

"Oh there are all manner of similarities, the obsession with pointless bets for one thing...Merlin, your mother and Sirius in that kitchen, betting on everything that moved! But no, the important thing is not how they are alike, but how they are different."

"How are they different?"

"Maggie is a werewolf, like me. We are...equal, you might say. We have this common ground that we can bond over. But your mother, of course, is not a werewolf. Our friendship required a degree of sacrifice on her part, and that is something that can be admired. If it had been your mother and not Maggie here today and I had asked her to cover at work for me, she would have agreed to do it without me owing her anything or having to make a deal. She would have given up her time for me just because I asked. Feel free to make friends with people who you enjoy spending time with, Teddy, but only fall in love with the ones who will be willing to make sacrifices for you. And then do all you can to stop them doing just that." Taking another sip of his soup, the werewolf smiled. "This is deadly serious talk to have over lunch, isn't it? Shouldn't we be talking about what you want to do this week?"

It was a fantastic week. Each day Teddy was allowed to choose what they did – from simple walks in the woods to a rather extravagant trip to Diagon Alley complete with triple scoops of ice cream and a large bag full of tricks from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. They visited Hogsmeade and Remus recounted as many stories about he and his school friends' exploits in the village as he could recall. Some days they stayed at home, playing exploding snap or just talking for hours. In the evenings they often went to dinner at one of the Weasleys' houses or at Harry at Ginny's and Teddy was indulged in all manner of stories about the Order of the Phoenix, from epic battles to amusing incidents around the kitchen table at Headquarters. As promised, every morning at breakfast an owl would arrive with a letter from Teddy's mother, telling him that she was having a lovely time. The letters were short, more notes than letters, and very repetitive. There was no mention of quite what Tonks and Tom were up to whilst on holiday, and Teddy spent the majority of his time at the breakfast table speculating as to what they were doing. But once the day had truly started, Teddy found himself giving little if no thought to them at all.

But come Saturday morning, this all changed.

"Mum hasn't owled today." Teddy told his father, as Remus set their breakfast things to wash themselves in the sink before sinking back down into his chair, reaching for the Daily Prophet.

"Give her a chance, Teddy, the day's only just started."

"Yeah...but she always owls in the morning."

"Maybe she's having a lie in."

Teddy scowled, but did not get the chance to retort, for there came a loud pounding upon the front door, and Remus abandoned the newspaper and got to his feet. Teddy stood too, and followed his father into the living room, watching as Remus opened the door.

A mass of tangled dark hair and denim launched itself through the doorway, attaching itself to the front of Remus' robes. The wizard fell back a step at the sudden collision.

"Good morning Maggie." he greeted, as if this sort of thing happened all the time, only for the witch to cry:

"It's not a good morning, Remus! It's...it's....awful!" And with that she burst into hysterical tears.

Remus put his arms firmly around her and they began a somewhat awkward shuffle over towards the sofa.

"Can you put the kettle on, Teddy?" he asked over his shoulder, voice raised to be heard over Maggie's wailing.

Wordlessly Teddy headed back into the kitchen, bemusement adorning his face. By the time he had set the kettle to boil and had returned to the living room, he found the two werewolves upon the sofa, Maggie curled up against Remus' side, head resting miserably against his shoulder.

"You were right," she was saying, reaching to dab her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. "I should have...should have told him straight away!" A fresh sob escaped her throat as she said: "It was horrible! He said...he said I was a freak!"

"You're not a freak, Mags." Remus told her calmly.

"You're a freak!" she shrieked, giving his arm a feeble slap. "We're all bloody freaks! All of us!" And with that she crumpled against his shoulder again, tears streaming down her face. "I'm going to be alone forever." she whimpered, and he put a firm arm around her, shooting Teddy the smallest of smiles as he said:

"Come on, Mags, let's just forget about...what was his name again?"

"Andrew!"

"That's the one. Let's just forget all about him."

"I'm sick of being on my own! I want to...I want to get married! I want to be normal, get married and...and have children!"

"I'll tell you what," Remus told her as Teddy took a seat upon a cushion on the floor. "You really want to get married? How about you marry me? Teddy here already thinks we're an item, so I reckon we could pull it off. What do you say?"

The crying instantly stopped. Maggie's eyes seemingly bulged as she shifted to stare first at Teddy and then at Remus.

"He thinks what?" she cried, and despite the tears still trickling down her cheeks she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"Is that a no, then?" Remus asked her, barely holding back laughter of his own. "Get your shoes, Teddy, we're going to have to take the ring back!"

"Oh shut up, Remus!" Maggie demanded, pulling sharply away from him as he finally lost his battle to keep a straight face. "Do you have any idea just how...wrong this conversation is? It's just....WRONG!"

"I thought that was why you keep coming round here to tell me about...what's his name?"

"Andrew! You know it's Andrew!"  
"Right...him. You want me to be jealous."

Maggie clamped her hands firmly over her ears and began humming loudly.

"Not listening! Not listening, not listening! I can't hear you!"

As the pair continued to squabble, Maggie's despair seemingly lost as she declared: _Besides I'm not that bloody desperate,_ Teddy found himself smiling. Before he had met his father, when he had relied upon the few scraps on information thrown to him by his friends and family, he had always wondered just how two people such as his parents could have ended up together. After all they were so different, his father had always seemed a bit too serious for his mother, or perhaps she had not been serious enough for him, Teddy wasn't sure which. But the boy was increasingly getting the impression that he had been wrong about Remus. Apparently he could be just as downright silly as the next man.

"...plus you're technically still married!" Maggie was pointing out, smiling brightly. "You know what that proves, don't you? If you managed to tie the knot there's hope for the rest of us yet!"

Remus was suddenly silent.

"And you know what, Teddy?" Maggie went on, turning to look at the boy. "It proves something else, too. It proves that Remus is an idiot!"

"Don't start again, Maggie..."

"Here's me going from bloke to bloke, no chance in hell of ever finding a decent one, whilst Remus goes right ahead and marries your mum...only to screw it all up by leaving!"

Remus reached to clamp a firm hand over her mouth.

"We don't need any more words of wisdom, thank you." he told her sternly, and she scowled, reaching to pull his hand from her face. "Especially not Teddy."

"Don't be so over sensitive." Maggie told him, folding her arms across her chest and sitting up straighter in her seat. "And what does it matter what I say in front of Teddy? He's not stupid, I bet he knows you're an idiot without me telling him. Isn't that right, Ted?"

Remus got to his feet and headed for the kitchen, muttering irritably under his breath. Maggie stuck her tongue out at him when he couldn't see.

Teddy was vaguely aware that he should be annoyed at her for being insensitive, or for calling him Ted, but for some reason he found that he liked her more than ever.

"Dad's not an idiot." he told her once Remus was out of the room, banging things around in the kitchen in a distinctly bad tempered manner. "He just did what he thought was best."

"Yeah, I know." Maggie said, voice suddenly less than cheery. "But he thought wrong, didn't he? He's bloody miserable."

"My mum's with someone else now." Teddy told her glumly, reaching to pick at a loose thread in the carpet. "I don't like him."

Maggie's eyes widened a little in surprise.

"Is she?"

"Yeah."

The witch pursed her lips together, a worried expression upon her face which was still flushed from crying.

"Bugger!" she cried, slapping a hand down upon the sofa before getting hurriedly to her feet and making a dash for the kitchen.

Teddy got to his feet and shuffled to peer into the room, just in time to see Maggie land a hefty slap on Remus' hand as he reached for the teapot.

"You git!" she exclaimed as he froze, staring at her disbelieving. "Why didn't you tell me she was with somebody else?"

Remus picked up the teapot and began to splash tea into a trio of cups.

"Because I knew you'd make a song and dance about it. Just like you are right now. What does it even matter, anyway?"

"It matters a lot!" Maggie exclaimed, snatching up the milk before he could get hold of it. "If I'd known there was no going back I'd not have pestered you about it! Now you think I'm a complete bitch!"

Remus glanced meaningfully over at the doorway and she blushed, muttering:

"Oh...language...sorry..."

"I don't think that." Remus told her, holding a hand out for the milk.

"Really?"

"Really. Can I have my milk bottle, please?"

"Teddy doesn't like him, this other guy." Maggie said, not relinquishing her hold of the bottle.

"I know."

"So...what are you gonna do about it?"

"What am I going to do about what?"

"About the fact that Teddy doesn't like him."

Remus reached to pull the bottle from her hand.

"Nothing." he said as he unscrewed the milk top, tossing it onto the counter top and pouring a dash of milk into each cup.

"Well that's not going to be much use, is it?" Maggie said impatiently, and from his silent position by the door, Teddy smiled.

"No, you're right, Maggie." Remus agreed, voice positively dripping with sarcasm as he offered her one of the cups. "I should hot foot it over there right this second. We can do the whole wands at dawn thing. What decade do you think this is, anyway? The '90s?"

Maggie pouted.

"Yeah well..." she muttered, turning to head back into the living room. "You'd kick his arse!"

Remus reached for the biscuit barrel, shaking his head in disapproval, but to his surprise Teddy could have sworn he heard him mutter:

"I'd bet you that."

Maggie seemed determined to stay put for most of the day, and Teddy was perfectly glad to have her around. Here, he thought hopefully as he helped her pack away the set of cards that they had spent the past hour playing, was a potential ally. Maggie seemed to have a habit of being rather pushy, not to mention downright frank. Teddy could see her becoming very useful. All of Remus' other friends seemed determined to keep their opinions to themselves, and even the bolder ones like Molly Weasley didn't seem to be much of an influence over him. No, Remus appeared to be standing firm by his decision to do absolutely nothing where Tonks and Tom were concerned.

The only person who seemed able to extract some sort of reaction from him was Maggie.

Yes, she was going to be very useful, Teddy was sure.

"You know, Dad," Teddy said meaningfully, fixing a dejected expression upon his face as Remus returned from fetching himself a glass of water from the kitchen. "Mum still hasn't owled today."

"I'm sure she's having a wonderful time." Remus assured him as Maggie shuffled up on the sofa to make room for him, her eyes upon Teddy as he complained:

"But she promised to write every day! What if...what if something's wrong?"

Remus frowned, wincing slightly when Maggie's elbow collided with his ribs as she shifted to get herself comfortable.

"I honestly can't imagine anything being wrong, Teddy. What could possibly happen?"

"I don't know...maybe she fell into one of the lakes or something." Teddy mumbled, and he was not impressed by Maggie's sudden burst of laughter.

Remus silenced her with a stare.

"That does rather sound like your mother, doesn't it?" he said once order had been restored. "But I wouldn't worry, she knows how to swim. And even if she didn't, I imagine Tom would jump in and save her, wouldn't he?"

"Maybe." Teddy grunted, folding his arms firmly across his chest.

"You seriously don't like this Tom guy, do you?" Maggie observed, ignoring Remus' finger jabbing her warningly on the arm.

"No," Teddy told her sulkily. "He's...weird with my mum. He doesn't like her doing stuff. Like he doesn't like her going out without him, and he doesn't like her wearing certain stuff, and he tells her nasty things about how she does her hair..."

"He sounds like a right git." Maggie commented, and Remus reached to run a tired hand through his hair.

"I'm sure if he's not right for her, your mother will figure that out for herself." the wizard told his son warily, only to reach to lay a comforting hand upon the child's arm when tears began to gather in Teddy's eyes. "Come on Teddy, I'm sure it's not that bad..." He trailed off at the miserable look of disbelief that his son bestowed upon him through watery eyes.

"I don't like him, Dad!"

"I know you don't, but you can pretend, can't you? For your mother? And if it's too much sometimes, you know you can always come here, don't you? I'm not going anywhere, Teddy, I'll be here for you, I'll do all I can for you. Okay?"

"I don't want him around anymore!" Teddy cried, reaching to grasp hold of his father's arm as tears began to cascade down his cheeks. "I mean it! Please Dad!" He fixed Remus with the most desperate, pleading expression he could muster. "I want you to make him go away!"


	13. Custodial Suicide

_Note: This is a day late, so I'm sorry for that! I'm also sorry that it is so short, but I couldn't help but end it where I did...I'm just evil like that, aren't I? Thank to everybody who reviewed the last chapter! You really do make my day!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**13: Custodial Suicide**

"This," Remus said as he surveyed the hill that lay before him, "is custodial suicide."

"You think?" Maggie said from just behind him, peering over his shoulder up at the little cottage that was nestled upon the hilltop.

"I don't think, I know." Remus muttered, reaching to scratch his head thoughtfully.

"What does custodial mean?" Teddy wanted to know from the wizard's right elbow, but Remus appeared too absorbed in his thoughts to notice.

"Well never mind, eh?" Maggie said cheerfully, twirling the wand that she held through her fingers with a broad smile. "You've escaped suicide missions before, you can do it again! Now go on! Move it!" She caught the wand firmly by the handle and gave Remus a sharp jab in the back.

"Can you stop doing that?" he asked her irritably, reaching with a blind hand to swat the wand away from him as he started to walk.

"No, I can't." Maggie told him, holding the wand almost ceremoniously before her as they continued on their way.

"Teddy," Remus said some minutes later when he finally gave up trying to halt Maggie's persistent assault on his spine, "I need you to realize...this might not work out the way you want it to. And if it doesn't, if your mother truly doesn't appreciate me sticking my nose into her business like this..."

"It's your business too!" Maggie interrupted, much to his annoyance. "Teddy being your son..."

"Be quiet Maggie! As I was saying, if she doesn't like it...well chances are she's going to be more than a little angry with me for spoiling her holiday. And she might decide that...well...that she doesn't want me...telling you things...things she doesn't like."

"Like what?" Teddy asked, frowning deeply.

"Well she may well assume that all this about Tom...is down to me. She might think that I...well that I make it obvious to you that people perhaps don't like him all that much. Or she might think that with me around you won't want to...accept Tom into the family."

"So?"

"So...she might not want you to come and see me...as much..."

Teddy stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide in horror.

"No!" he cried, hands balling into fists at the very notion. "No! Mum wouldn't do that! She wouldn't!"

"I'm not saying she's never going to let me see you again, Teddy..."

"She better not!"

"Be quiet, Maggie! I'm just saying it might be...difficult for a while. And you should be ready...for that possibility."

As Teddy's gaze dropped downwards, Maggie seemed oblivious to the darkened mood.

"So...what are you going to say to her?" she asked Remus, jabbing him in the back with her wand yet again to get his attention.

"I'm not entirely sure." Remus admitted, wincing at the impact and increasing his pace so that she had to hurry to keep up with him.

"Well you better think fast, we'll be there in a minute."

Remus halted abruptly, rounding on her with a deep scowl upon his face.

"Maybe if you just kept your mouth shut for once, Maggie, I might be able to hear myself think!" he snapped, throwing his hands up in emphasis.

Maggie scowled right back at him.

"Don't be such a git, Remus!" she demanded, stamping her foot furiously. "I'm just trying to help you!"

"I don't need help! I just need time to think!"

As a heated argument broke out between the two adults, Teddy wandered further up the hill, attempting to block out their shouting as he squinted at the little cottage absentmindedly.

It was tiny. Indeed, it made Bluebell cottage look positively spacious in comparison. Built of chunky, reddish bricks, Teddy could see four carefully painted white windows, each complete with a matching window box full of a vibrant assortment of flowers. As he reached the gate that lead into the front garden, finding that it had been left wide open, Teddy mused that his grandmother must hire a gardener of some sort to keep it all in such perfect order. The winding little pathway leading to the front step was made up of neatly raked gravel, framed on both sides by carefully trimmed grass and a number of colourful flowers in terracotta pots.

It was then that Teddy's gaze came to rest upon the front door. Like the garden gate, it too had been left wide open and Teddy took a few steps up the pathway, gravel crunching noisily under his shoes, so that he could peer into the cottage's hallway. The contrast between the bright sunshine outside and the dim shade of the interior made it hard to see clearly, but as he took another few steps forward Teddy's eyes slowly focused on the scene just inside the doorway.

The boy froze.  
Somewhere behind him the quarreling voices seemed to drift off into nothing as the sight of smashed china and a battered looking sideboard, bore into his vision. Heart hammering in his chest, Teddy drew in a deep breath, eyes still glued to the doorway of the cottage as he shouted:  
"DAD!"

Halfway down the hill, Remus and Maggie had given up on meaningful debate and were instead resorting to good old fashioned insults.

"You know what?" Maggie shrieked, face rapidly approaching an alarming shade of purple. "I reckon she's better off without you! Because getting anything into that THICK head of yours is like repeatedly headbutting a bloody brick wall!"

"That's rather rich coming from you though, isn't it?" Remus told her as she put her hands on her hips and glowered at him harder than ever. "It doesn't matter what I say to you, you don't listen! You can't help but stick your nose in, you're worse than a niffler in a jewelry shop..."

"Ungrateful git!"

"You know, if Rita Skeeter had a sister..."

A furious duel of insults were hauled back and forth until Maggie let out a shriek of fury and finally yelled:

"Oh bite me!"

Remus paused midway through his latest attack upon her character, mouth partially open as the fury was seemingly knocked from him by her words. She gave a defeated shrug and grinned at her own slip of the tongue. The two werewolves were about to start laughing at the rather abrupt end of their row when they heard a panicked shout from somewhere up ahead.

"DAD!"

Maggie's gaze snapped to the top of the hill as Remus whipped around to look too, instinctively plunging his hand into the pocket of his robes and grasping hold of his wand.

"Come on, Mags!" he said, voice oddly calm for one who had just made such a knee-jerk reaction, and with that the pair began to dash up the hill, their argument seemingly forgotten.

When the adults finally reached Teddy's horror-stricken position in the front garden, taking in the scene that Teddy pointed out to them with a shaky finger, the boy was surprised when Remus simply instructed calmly:

"Stay here, Teddy." And with that he began to walk slowly towards the doorway, wand held loosely in one hand.

"Shall I..." Maggie began, only for the wizard to murmur:

"No, stay with Teddy."

Teddy watched as Remus reached the doorway and, after only the smallest of hesitations, stepped inside. The boy winced at the sound of china crunching underfoot. Remus took a long look around the hallway before taking another step forward.

"Dora...?"

Teddy strained his ears to hear a response, but amongst the birdsong outside and the gentle breeze in the trees, he heard nothing.

Inside the hallway, Remus took a few small steps towards the nearest doorway, and stopped dead. He drew a sharp breath.

"What?" Teddy cried, rushing to the front door, despite Maggie's muttered warning. "What is it, Dad?"

Remus did not reply for a long moment.

"Teddy," he said eventually without looking round, voice soft, cautious. "I need you to listen to me _very_ carefully..."


	14. Definitions of Right and Wrong

_Note: And for once we have a change of perspective! Because let's face it, you can't have super angst and mega fluff as seen through the eyes of a eavesdropping child! I hope you all like this chapter...I am not all that amazing at romance, so I'm not entirely sure this has turned out as I would have liked. So PLEASE let me know if you like this chapter! And if anything turns out particularly nice and fluffy, point it out! This is all to help me in any future fluffy endeavors! _

_Thank you to my reviewers. I hope this makes up for just how evil I am...though saying that I will not apologize for my love of cliffhangers! =) _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing._

**14: Definitions of Right and Wrong**

Teddy felt his chest constricting and he stepped over the threshold, heart hammering in his ears.

"What...what's going on, Dad?" he asked, voice much higher than usual as he stumbled over his words. "Is...is it Mum? Is...is she okay....?"

"Listen carefully, Teddy." Remus repeated, still not moving a muscle. "I need you to do exactly as I say. It is very important."

"But..."

"Do you understand?"

"I...yes..."

"Good. Now I want you to go back outside to Maggie, and I want you to close the door behind you. And I don't care what you hear, or see, or what you might want to do, you stay right there and you do not come back inside. Okay?"

"But..."

"Okay?"

"Is Mum okay?"

"Everything is going to be fine. Now go on, go outside."

Teddy slowly backed out of the doorway and slowly pulled the door shut behind him. After a moment the curtains in the right hand window were pulled firmly closed.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Back inside, Remus turned away from the window and resumed his staring at the figure that lay curled up upon the floor in front of the fireplace. He drew a steadying breath and crept forward until there were precious few meters between them.

From where he stood he could not see her face, though her drab, mousey hair and shuddering shoulders were enough to tell him that she was in a bad way, in some form or another.

_At least she's breathing_, the reasonable voice in the back of his head said.

_But Merlin...the sight of her_...

He swallowed hard before dropping to his knees.

"Dora...?" he whispered, reaching to lay a tentative hand upon her shoulder, only to jump at the sound of the strangled little gasp that escaped the heap of robes.

"Don't!" Tonks whimpered, voice little more than a squeak. "Just...don't."

He quickly withdrew his hand, and promptly wished he hadn't for she immediately burst into tears. It was an odd feeling, a mixture of despair at her tears and relief that she could even shed them.

"Are you hurt?" he tried, leaning a little closer in a vain attempt to get a look at her, but her face was completely obscured by her arms. When she did not respond, he tried again: "Where's Tom?"

This only seemed to make her sob harder still.

"G...go....go home, Remus. Just...just....go home. You shouldn't even...even be here..."

"I know I shouldn't," he agreed, clasping his hands together in an effort to stop himself reaching for her again. "But whether you like it or not I am here. And I'm not going to just leave you like this."

She mumbled something that sounded distinctly like _what do you care_? It stung.

"I care a great deal." he insisted, "So...don't you think you ought sit up? You can't be comfy, lying like that." He forced himself to sound casual, as if suggesting she might like a pillow to lean on whilst listening to the WWN, fighting back the urge to scoop her up in his arms and help her up himself.

"I...don't want to." came the whispered reply.

"Why not?" he asked calmly, attempting to ignore the urge to start thinking of all the worst, most alarming, most dire reasons she might present him with.

"My head hurts." she said simply.

"And...why does your head hurt, Dora?" He fidgeted a little, patience beginning to wane. What had happened? What in Merlin's name was wrong with her? Why was the hallway in such a mess? Where was Tom?

"I fell over."

He waited for her to elaborate, but she did not grace him with further details.

"Where's Tom?" he tried again, and she sniffed, shifting her legs closer to her chest.

"Gone." she whispered, and the sobbing that had been slowly subsiding instantly returned with vengeance, causing her whole body to tremble in despair. "Oh Remus...he's....gone!"

Remus' eyes drifted closed as he digested this fact, along with her complete despair of it, and attempted to form some sort of plan.

She might be badly hurt, her head hurt, Merlin knew what else hurt too and she shouldn't just lie there, he should move her, protests or not...

And yet, for some reason that he could not quite fathom, as if his mind had somehow become disconnected from his body for a moment, Remus did not attempt to move her.

Instead he silently lowered himself to the floor beside her and, after a brief hesitation, reached to put his arm around her, He waited for his common sense to kick in and tell him that the action was deeply wrong, or for her to act surprised and make him leap away from her in embarrassment. But nothing happened.

In fact he could swear that she was in fact leaning back against him, sobs slowly beginning to subside. Once he had decided that his recklessness seemed somehow acceptable, he asked:

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"We had a row." Tonks told him hoarsely, at last removing her face from it's hiding place in her arms, head coming to lean against his chest. Remus vaguely wondered why the movement felt so right, when it was obviously just wrong. This was all wrong. He should have stuck to the plan, sat her in a chair and talked about this. That would have been right, like two people in the middle of a divorce. Not like this. This was...two people lying curled up together on the floor...and surely people who were getting divorced weren't supposed to act like that?

_Bugger_...

"What did you row about?" he asked, frantically trying to think of what he was supposed to do next.

He was distracted from this train of thought when she said:

"About you."

_Again...bugger_...

And since when had bugger become part of his every day vocabulary, subconscious or not? It was like having Maggie stuck inside his head..._Merlin, what a thought_...

_This isn't helping_, he told himself firmly. _You've gotten yourself into an awkward situation here and you better either sort it out or make the most of it, because Teddy is outside wondering what in Merlin's name is going on and quite frankly you still don't know what's happened yourself_...

"Oh?" he mumbled, as he hurriedly formed a new plan in his head. One that didn't involve detaching himself from the woman beside him like he probably ought do, because for once he didn't want to be quite that sensible. He couldn't bear to, anyway, the sight of her when he had reached the doorway appeared to have done something sickening to his insides, and her closeness seemed to dull the sensation until he could think almost clearly. As she began to tell him what had happened he concentrated very hard on slowly moving his fingers across the surface of her arm, attempting to be discreet, or as discreet as one can be in such a position, searching for any sign of injury.

"I wrote a note to Teddy," Tonks began, reaching to wipe her eyes upon her sleeve. "Like every other morning whilst Tom was in the bathroom. I was just going to go down and send it when he came out. He...he wanted to know what I'd been writing, so I told him it was just another note to Teddy. Tom...didn't quite believe me, he kept asking questions, like was it just for Teddy or was I writing to you, too? He'd said the same thing every morning, it was starting to get on my nerves and I told him so. He got pissed off...we stood up on the landing and rowed for ages...I...I'm not sure exactly how long...but I couldn't stand it after a while, he was being so utterly unreasonable. So...so I decided to leave..." she trailed off into silence, then, as if this was somehow an acceptable end to the story.

"Then what happened?" Remus asked, and it did not escape his notice that she took a long time to reply.

"I went to leave..." she whispered eventually. "He told me to wait and grabbed hold of my arm...and I tripped. Down the stairs."

The sick feeling in his stomach suddenly seemed to swell and Remus became acutely aware of something constricting in his chest. His grip upon her instinctively tightened.

_Careful_, the sensible voice inside his head warned as she gave a tiny start at his sudden hold.

Remus silently told the voice to go jump off the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower. To hell with right and wrong! Besides, this didn't feel wrong, not wrong at all.

I_'ll tell you what's wrong_, he thought to himself as Tonks' head dipped a little self-consciously at his reaction. _Watching your girlfriend tumble down a flight of stairs and then seemingly disappearing off somewhere, leaving her to drag herself into a dark room and stay there for Merlin knew how long, more than a little battered and completely and utterly alone. _That was wrong.

"Guess I passed out when I hit the bottom..." she mumbled with a heavy sigh. "He was gone when I came to again. Must've...must've just freaked out and legged it...or...or something. That was...a few hours ago....I guess..." The tears appeared to be seeping from her eyes again as she admitted: "I know I should have...have just gotten up....but...but I just...I don't know..." She let out a sharp hiss of pain as he reached to press his fingers gently to the back of her head, grazing a large bump hidden beneath damp hair.

As he withdrew his hand to find damp crimson upon his fingertips, Remus told her:

"I think you need to sit up, Dora. Take the pressure off your head..."

"What's the point?" she muttered bitterly. "What does anyone care? Merlin...I thought...I truly thought he gave a damn..." she gave a somewhat strangled chuckle as she said: "Should have seen it coming though, shouldn't I? Give you all a month or so and you all run a bloody mile..." She halted abruptly, the smallest of shivers shooting down her spine as she felt his lips press gently against the back of her head for the briefest of moments.

"Please." he said softly, breath warm upon the back of her neck. "You'll feel better for it."

Tonks considered this proposal for a long moment before slowly rolling over until she was facing him, mere milometers between them.

"I'll get up," she told him slowly, shyly even. "If you tell me that wasn't a mistake. Tell me, Remus, that you meant to kiss me just then."

As he stared into her red, puffy eyes, still shining from fresh tears, Remus knew that there was only one possible answer. As a rule, he always tried to mean everything that he did and said in life. He'd meant it when he'd told her all those years ago that he loved her. He'd meant it when he'd said he wanted to marry her, too. He'd even meant it when he'd written and told her that she was better off without him.

But just because he'd meant it, didn't mean it was true.

Because if he'd never left her there would not have been so much pain, there would not have been a constant battle to get up each morning, or see the point of life.

And there would not have been Dora lying crumbled at the bottom of a staircase, either.

It could all be stopped, all be over and mended, he could see that it could. It only required him to tell her one more time exactly what he meant.

Remus drew a deep breath and as he did he felt her body tense ever so slightly in apprehension.

"I meant it." he breathed, relieved the moment he had said it. "Merlin, did I mean it."

She let out a deep sigh of relief, staring at him intently.

"Would you mean it again?" she wondered, and at last she gave the smallest of smiles as he slowly leant forward, lips gently pressing against her own.


	15. Third Time Lucky

_Note: I propose a challenge! Anyone who accepts it gets cookies (of the metaphorical kind, of course!) _

_The challenge is simply this: What happened the first time that Remus met Maggie? _

_Since I haven't finished my other fic yet, I'm inviting anyone to steal Maggie from me and write a fic answering the above question! Because I haven't come up with an answer yet and I would love to read what anybody else thinks!_

_Have fun in my sandbox! =)_

_And thank you to my reviewers. I am glad that you enjoyed the fluffiness of the last chapter! I may be persuaded to add more to this, but I'm not sure yet!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. _

**15: Third Time Lucky**

At first it was like one of his dreams. There they were, stood together in the doorway, his arm around her waist and her head resting lightly against his shoulder.

It was like birthdays and Christmases all rolled together into one extraordinary moment. Any second now, Teddy thought as he resisted the urge to let out a shout of triumph and dance around the front garden, somebody was going to start setting off fireworks.

But then they started to make their way down the garden path, and the dream ended abruptly in a blur of stumbling feet, muttered cursing and bruised skin.

"Mum!"

Before he could take more than a couple of steps towards them, he was a little relieved when Tonks told him:

"I'm fine, love, just...stay put a minute."

"What happened?" Teddy asked her as they came to a halt before him, his father's tight hold upon her loosening a little as she straightened up a little. Teddy found himself with a great desire to throw his arms around her, but he dared not, for she looked as though one good hug would knock her right off her feet.

"Not a lot." Tonks assured him, reaching with one hand to prod a little experimentally at the back of her head. "Just a few bumps and bruises. Not really very exciting, I'm afraid."

"Where's _he_ gone?" Teddy wanted to know, eying the cottage behind them warily. He couldn't quite bring himself to give a name to him, not whilst his parents were still standing so close together as if the three of them were a happy family of sorts.

"Leave him out cold in the living room, did you?" Maggie asked from just behind Teddy, a wide grin upon her face.

"Be quiet, Mags." came Remus' instant response. "And no, of course I didn't. He left before we got here. Come on, we better get you home, Dora, you could use your bed round about now."

"You know what, Remus?" Maggie announced as she slowly led the way out of the garden and back down the hill. "That's about the tenth time you've told me to be quiet today! Honestly, I open my mouth for a second and all you ever do is tell me to be quiet! Every single bloody time..."

"This is Maggie," Teddy heard Remus inform Tonks in an undertone. "We're friends. Most of the time, anyway..."

"...be quiet Maggie, stop talking Maggie, blah blah blah blah...."

"If I were to say shut up, Maggie, would that do me any better?"

At this interruption to her ranting, Maggie spun round to face the other werewolf, pulling her wand from her pocket and pointing it directly in his face.

"You," she declared, eyes bulging as she practically spat at him in fury, "are a git! Did you know?"

"Of course he knows," Tonks told her, swaying a little at their sudden halt. "I used to tell him so all the time."

Remus let out a somewhat resigned sigh as he observed:

"I can see you two are going to get on very well indeed..."

"Of course we are!" Maggie enthused, finally lowering her wand and continuing down the hill, a spring in her step. "We've got plenty in common. We both know you're a git, and we like the same music...he let me steal some of the records you left at his house by the way, Dora, we're about the same height, and oh! Remus! Both of us have had the pleasure of you proposing to us..."

At Tonks' somewhat quizzical glance in his direction, Remus instantly cracked.  
"Oh for the love of Merlin! SHUT UP, MAGGIE!"

"Did you find it as utterly a hilarious experience as I did?" Maggie asked Tonks conversationally, as if completely oblivious to the outburst. "No? Well then, I guess that's where the similarities end."

From his position now at the back of the group, Teddy struggled to suppress a chuckle.

Back at his mother's house that night, Teddy simply couldn't sleep. Once they had gotten back everything all seemed to happen very quickly. Having successfully navigated the stairs with the help of Remus' steadying hand upon one elbow, Tonks had collapsed into bed and had stayed there all evening. Then with Teddy's help, Remus had gone through the cupboards in the kitchen and they had made cheese on toast for dinner – nobody was particularly hungry. Then the two of them had sat in the living room and listened to the wireless. Every time the crackly voice had announced that another hour had passed, Teddy would follow Remus upstairs and they would poke their heads around Tonks' bedroom door and check she was still sound asleep.

And before he knew it, Teddy found himself being sent to bed.

"What about you?" he had asked Remus as he had allowed himself to have the duvet tucked firmly around him. "You're not going home, are you? Who's going to check up on Mum in the night? I could set my alarm clock..."

"You just go to sleep, Teddy." Remus had told him, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. Teddy frowned at him a little, he looked a little sickly, tired. "Don't you worry, I'll keep an eye on her."

And true to his word, Remus had silently resumed his place in the living room. Teddy counted away the hours by listening for the sound of soft footsteps going up and down the stairs.

And so Teddy knew that it was four o'clock in the morning when Remus came upstairs, only to not go back down again.

Teddy raised his head up from his pillow and strained his ears. Nothing.

Nothing for ten whole minutes. The boy could only take this as a bad sign, so he slipped out from under the covers and crept out of his bedroom. When he reached his mother's room he found that the door had been left open just a crack. He held his breath a little as he squinted into the room, listening carefully.

There came the sound of a glass being set down upon one of the bedside tables.

"Better?"

"Mm. Unlike you, Remus. You look rather like the living dead."

Teddy watched his father's silhouette come to perch upon the edge of the bed.

"Well...I do try..."

Tonks snickered.

"Seriously, love," Teddy heard her say, reaching to press a hand to the werewolf's cheek. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all."

Her hand crept upwards into his hair and he allowed her to pull his face down towards her own.

"You think I don't know, don't you?" she whispered, free arm reaching to wrap loosely around his neck. "Well you think wrong. I do know."

"What do you know?" Remus asked her, voice the model of innocence.

"I know it's full moon tomorrow." came the response, interrupted for a moment as she leant to kiss him. "And I know you should be sleeping. And I know you're not."

"How am I to sleep, do you think, when I can think of nothing save you and the bottom of that staircase?"

"True. But I've fallen down staircases before, haven't I? Losing your nerve, are you?"

"Never had one to begin with. Didn't sleep back then either."

Their voices had been reduce to mere mumbles and for a long few moments they gave up on words all together, intent on kisses instead.

"I have a question." Tonks said at last, several minutes later, and he straightened up, taking hold of her hand in his.

"Oh?"

Even in the dark Teddy could see she was grinning.

"Did you really ask Maggie to marry you?"

"Hm. Well...technically...yes." Remus stifled another yawn that juddered as he couldn't help but chuckle. "Sadly, though, it wasn't very romantic."

"No?"

"No."

"How'd you do it?"

"On the sofa...with Teddy sitting with us...Maggie was crying."

"Wow. Impressive."

"I know."

"Almost beats the time you asked me. Dark streets...alleyway...Death Eaters. Doesn't get much more romantic than that, does it?"

"It certainly doesn't."

Tonks paused thoughtfully.

"You know," she said after a while. "We're going to be divorced within the week. It's going to be great. Give you a third bash at this whole proposal business! Third time lucky, Remus, you might come up with something even more brilliant than last time!"

Both of them laughed for a brief moment, only for him to lean down to kiss her again.

Their efforts this time round brought colour to Teddy's cheeks and he hurriedly backed away from the door, feeling a wonderful sense of mortification that he was sure was unique to all children who witness their parents expressing any form of affection. Teddy reveled in it. It was a long time before he heard murmured voices again and he tiptoed back to the door.

"I don't care!" Tonks was saying, and Teddy glimpsed that she had shuffled over to allow Remus to lie down beside her. "We'll be up before he's even awake! Besides, there's bugger all chance of me letting you sleep on the sofa when you need a decent rest."

Remus' mumbled reply was too quiet for Teddy to make out. He appeared to be on the verge of sleep. Quite frankly Teddy didn't blame him, after all he really had looked rather ill when he had tucked Teddy in to bed.

Tonks propped herself up on one elbow, reaching to stroke a finger across the werewolf's cheek.

"Remus?"

"Mm?"

"Thanks."

"For...?"

"For taking care of me. And staying up...you didn't have to."

Remus reached with a blind arm to pull her closer to him.

"Don't be daft." he told her as her head came to rest just under his chin. "Of course I had to. I love you."

She let out a soft, contented sigh.

"I love you too." she shifted to look up at him, and again Teddy could see her smiling. "You know what, Remus?"

"What's that?" came the sleepy response.

"I reckon this would be a good time. Don't you?"

Remus opened his eyes and attempted to blink the sleep out of them.

"I think it's perfect." he told her, and she allowed him to prize her away from him so that he could sit up and take both of her hands in his.

Teddy held his breath.

"Dora?"

"Yes Remus?"

Teddy slowly bent his knees, hands balling into fists.

"Will you marry me?" Remus whispered, and Tonks had barely drawn breath to reply when a sudden shriek of excitement from just outside the bedroom door caused both adults to jump about a foot in the air.

Outside Teddy was unaware of the loud cracking noise as Remus' head collided with the headboard, nor did he notice Tonks' shout of alarm as she immediately reached to pull the wizard hastily into her arms. He didn't hear their laughter as Remus returned the hug, nor did he notice the rather awkward yet fierce kiss that they shared as they attempted to stifle their amusement.

He was too busy bouncing up and down the landing, whooping at the top of his lungs and punching the air in triumph.

FINISH.


	16. Epilogue

_Note: For **Messer-Moony-sezs-awhoo** and **riggsby**, because if you ask me, chances are I'll write it!_

_YAY for Tom bashing! =) So I might have gone a bit over the top and the end...but I don't care! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit form this piece of writing. _

**16: Epilogue **

"And then, this bludger can flying, right out of nowhere! And Lockwood swerved to the side, like....whooooosh! And then, then BAM! He scored! And the crowd was like....aaaaaaaaaah!"

Remus stared, somewhat blurry eyed at the turquoise cannonball that was bouncing around the living room at a dizzying speed.

"Sounds like it was a good match." he observed from his seat in one of the squishy armchairs, glass bottle of an alarmingly green liquid balanced upon one knee.

Teddy came to an abrupt halt before his father, arms spread wide as he cried:

"It was AMAZING!"

"Teddy!" he heard Tonks call from somewhere out in the hallway. "You think you might like to turn it down a notch or two, love? You're dad's a bit hungover!"

As she appeared in the doorway, Remus told her:

"You're funny, you know that?"

"Yep, I'm hilarious." she agreed as she padded across the room towards him, reaching to ruffle Teddy's hair as she passed, causing him to grumble:

"M-um!"

"So, you going to drink that or just stare at it all day?" Tonks asked, gesturing to the bottle as Remus tapped his fingers upon it absentmindedly. At her expectant look, he unscrewed the top of the bottle and, after a deep breath, downed the concoction in one.

"There, Teddy." Tonks announced cheerily, taking the empty bottle from Remus' hand with a smile at the disgusted look upon his face. "Few more of those potions and Dad'll be right as rain by tonight, it'll be like the full moon never rose!" she shot her son a grin as she headed for the kitchen door. "Then you can shout at him as loud as you like!"

Teddy could have sworn that he heard his father mutter _Merlin, give me strength!_ But before he could make any sort of apology for his rather inconsiderate behavior, Tonks called:

"You've left Dad's book out front, Teddy! You know he's had that in pristine condition for what...thirty years now. You're gonna trash it in under thirty minutes!"

Teddy shot his father a fleeting look of remorse before dashing out of the room and towards the front door, just as Tonks reappeared from the kitchen to return to the living room.

So consumed by his rather guilty musings about his father's poor condition was he, that Teddy didn't notice the man stood at the end of the garden path until he had practically run into him.

"Hi Ted." the intruder greeted. "Back from your dad's house, huh?"

Teddy took a small step backwards and simply stared.

In the the past day's euphoria, he'd quite forgotten about Tom.

At the frosty silence, Tom glanced down at the book that Teddy had left balanced upon the garden wall.

"The Collective Writings of Adalbert Wallfling. Gosh, that's a pretty impressive read, isn't it? All those...theories and...and stuff."

_Well you would call it stuff, wouldn't you?_ A rather vicious voice observed from somewhere inside Teddy's head. _Because you're too thick to understand even the most obvious of things. Here's one for you: My dad's back with my mum now. So you can just get lost. Is that simple enough for you? Or shall I draw you a diagram?_

"So..." Tom mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and glancing over the top of Teddy's head as the child silently glowered at him. "Is your mum around?"

Teddy finally managed to suppress his anger long enough to say in what he thought was a relatively calm voice:

"She's busy."

"Yeah? What's she up to?"

Teddy attempted to conjure up the most infuriating story he could muster before giving a shrug.

"I dunno," he said, smothering a grin with the most innocent expression he could muster. "She told me to play out here for a bit, because she and dad are busy with something upstairs." He frowned a little as he said: "Dad said I'd just get in the way."

The boy watched with no small amount of pleasure as the intruder digested the lies with wide eyes.

"Oh..." Tom mumbled, rocking back on his heels and glancing over Teddy's head again as his hands shifted uncomfortably in his pockets. "Well..."

He was cut off by the sound of a loud voice calling from a few houses up the street, and Teddy immediately smiled.

"Oi! Teddy!" it shouted, causing Tom to jump in surprise. "Is your Dad still in bed? Only I could use a favour..."

Maggie was making a rather slow, stumbling progression towards them, dark hair in disarray and robes a mess as if she had attempted to dress herself whilst both of her hands had been tied behind her back. As she drew closer, Teddy's smile faded a little at the sight of her sickly face and rather lifeless eyes. She looked to be in no better state than Remus did. It was a miracle, the child thought, that she still managed to shout so loudly.

"Hi Maggie," he greeted, stepping around Tom to get a better look at her, much to the wizard's irritation. "Dad's just..." he just about stopped himself from saying _in the living room_, "...with Mum. They're busy."

"Who's your friend?" Maggie asked, offering Tom a remarkably bright smile for one who was so pale and sickly looking. Teddy had a feeling that her smile would not last for long.

"This is Tom." he informed his father's friend flatly. "We're not friends."

Maggie's smile disintegrated.

Back inside, Tonks had come to perch upon the arm of Remus' chair, one hand upon his knee to steady herself as she began:

"I was thinking..."

"Shocking." Remus interrupted automatically as he stared into the blacks of his eyelids.

"Oh shut up!" She gave him a sharp slap upon the arm, only to let out a little gasp at his wincing, she grabbed hold of his hand. "Bugger! Sorry! Sorry love, I forgot." She bent down to press a series of gentle kisses to his arm, to which he opened one eye to observe:

"Mm. You should resort to domestic violence more often."

Her forehead came to rest against the crook of his arm as she giggled.

"Are you really so sore?" she asked, concerned after a moment, struggling to sit upright again, arm slung around his shoulders to keep upon her perch. "Because I'll go make another potion, if you're that bad..."

It was only when he finally looked at her properly and realized that she was being serious, that he admitted:

"I'm not really sore. Not _that_ sore, at least."

"So it didn't hurt?"

"Nope. Just wanted a kiss."

At his shameless admittance, Tonks' eyes widened in realization.

"You GIT!"

She had no chance to berate him further, for they were both distracted by a loud shout from outside.

"Maggie!" Teddy's voice cried desperately. "Don't!"

Remus and Tonks exchanged brief glances, before she launched herself to her feet and he pulled himself up, out of the chair as quickly as he could manage. They hurried to the front door.

They arrived in the front garden to find Teddy, Maggie and Tom frozen in a somewhat dramatic tableau, Maggie's wand directed directly at Tom's throat as Teddy stood looking on, expression an odd mixture of horror and delight.

Remus immediately shoved his hand into his pocket to retrieve his wand, only to discover that he'd left it on the coffee table back in the living room.

"Wand, Dora!" he breathed into Tonks' ear, before taking a step forward and demanding: "For the love of Merlin, Maggie, put the wand down!"

Beside him, Tonks did not move a muscle.

She was too busy taking in the somewhat petrified expression on Tom's face, and she felt a sudden urge to laugh at him, mock him, watch him fall down and see how he liked it when nobody helped him up again...

She reached to push the wand deeper into her pocket.

"I mean it, Mags!" Remus called when Maggie appeared to ignore him. "Put the wand down! We don't need any of this, so just put it down." He glanced back at Tonks and noted the lack of wand in her hand. _Oh for Merlin's sake_....

Maggie drew in a deep, calculating breath as she considered her next move. Of course she wanted to curse the bastard into the middle of next week...but she probably ought not do it in front of Teddy...but he deserved it...and nobody was making any real effort to stop her, Remus hadn't even bothered to draw his wand...secretly he probably wanted her to do it as much as she did...

"Dora...?" Remus whispered, only for her to tell him:

"My wand's in the kitchen."

Teddy held his breath as his father made his way slowly down the path, attempting reason as he went.

"You know, Maggie, if anybody has the right to hex him into oblivion...it's Dora, not you."

"She's welcome to give it a go after me." Maggie offered, as if offering to share a bar of Honeydukes' Finest. "Or you, Remus, if you want..."

"Teddy is right next to you." Remus pointed out, mere steps away now. "Don't be stupid."

At last, Maggie took a step backwards and lowered her wand.

"Fine!" she grumbled, shoving it back into the pocket of her robes. Calm seemed ready to descend upon the scene, only for her to suddenly step forward and, in one swift movement, grasp the hefty book still sat upon the wall firmly in both hands, raise it up above her head, and bring it swiftly back down again, knocking Tom upon the head with an audible crack.

Teddy watched the intruder crumple under the blow, falling to his knees and reaching to clutch his head with a loud groan of pain. Remus instantly reached to grab Maggie around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. As the two werewolves began to struggle, muttering and cursing at one another, Teddy couldn't quite help himself. He started to laugh.

Over by the doorway, Tonks attempted to keep a straight face as she watched Tom slowly lower his arms from his head.

And when she saw his fumbling hand reaching for his wand, she immediately reached for her own and took precise aim at his head.

"If you even think about drawing a wand on my family, Tom," she called, causing him to freeze again, eyes slowly looking round at her and widening at what he saw. "If you even think about cursing anybody, I swear I'll make you wish you were a Squib!"

Maggie and Remus stopped their squabbling.

"Not again..." Teddy heard Remus complain under his breath, only for Maggie to whisper:

"Ten galleons says she hexes the crap out of him!"

Teddy waited for the immortal words: _Be quiet, Maggie_, but instead Remus replied:

"Fifteen says I'd hex him worse."

"Wand's in my pocket." Maggie offered, and Teddy was shocked to see Remus reach and take out her wand.

"Look..." Tom said, voice an octave higher than usual as he found a second wand, this one almost prodding him in the chest. "I...I'm just going to...go..."

"I think that would be a good idea." Remus agreed pleasantly, grip upon Maggie's wand visibly tightening.

"Yeah," Tonks agreed, taking the smallest of steps forward as Tom got hurriedly to his feet. "You better hurry up, Tom. Because in a second I'm going to admit to Remus that I lied about our little row in the cottage. In fact you should probably start running, because I'm going to tell him the truth and he's got that wand pointed pretty close to your face right now. I'd not want to be where you are when he knows what really happened, would you?" As Tom began to back away, off up the street, she said: "Guess what, Remus?"

"What's that, Dora?" Remus asked, following Toms' progression with the tip of Maggie's wand.

"Well," Tonks said, causing Tom's pace to quicken considerably. Teddy slipped back towards the house, keen to be out of the way. "You know how I said that the other day I tripped down those stairs?"

"Yes?"

Tom abandoned all caution and began to run.

"Well the truth is, love," Tonks said, as the tip of Maggie's wand continued to follow the intruder's escape. "I didn't trip at all. The truth is, Tom pushed me."

Bang!

A burst of light shot from the end of Maggie's wand and streaked off up the street, just as Tom reached the apparation point. Teddy just about saw the spell strike the intruder in the back before he disappeared with a somewhat distorted crack.

"Good shot!" Maggie praised, clapping her hands together in glee.

"I don't think he's going to come back, do you?" Tonks grinned, hurrying forward to throw her arms around Remus, who sounded shockingly pleased to observe:

"I think I might of just made him splinch himself."

And with that they all began to head towards the front door, Teddy staring in awe at the casualness of Tonks':

"So who wants a cup of tea then?"


End file.
